Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said the agency is working to develop initiatives designed to address potential threats posed by drones.
While drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), possess the potential to technology to improve and support everyday lives, they can be used nefariously or maliciously to hurt people, disrupt activities and damage infrastructure.
“There is a huge market of commercial counter UAS solutions out there,” Anh Duong, S&T’s program executive for UAS, said. “But most, if not all of them, have not been subjected to testing in urban environments that are relevant to homeland security. So, to date, there is very little real data on the performance of these systems in urban settings.”
Officials said the work involved S&T establishing a test and evaluation series known as Technical Assessment of Counter UAS Technologies in Cities (TACTIC) to assess the performance and suitability of commercial counter-UAS solutions in homeland security settings.
In December 2017, DHS S&T’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) executed the second part of the 2017 TACTIC for the Program Executive Office for UAS, in partnership with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. The mock city there allowed S&T to replicate environments more relevant to homeland security operations.
Officials said TACTIC allowed S&T to assess technological capabilities and collect data feeding other tools used to advise DHS components.