The U.S. Army is evaluating a small multi-rotor drone to collect information on adversaries for analysis by cyber and military intelligence officers. The service has tested the unmanned aircraft—as yet unnamed—during training exercises at Fort Irwin, Calif., in the Mojave Desert, site of its national training center (NTC).
In an August 26 release, the Army Cyber Command said the drone supported the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team from Fort Riley, Kan., during a two-week training rotation at the NTC earlier in the month.
The command posted a photograph of what appeared to be a quadcopter carrying a radio-like device with an antenna on its underside and a separate box above the rotors. “The vehicle is designed to collect information on an adversary for analysis by cyber operators and military intelligence personnel,” the command said. “That information is ultimately provided to brigade commanders for their use.”
During actual combat operations, commanders benefit from the speedy delivery of “tactical insights,” said Maj. Deonand Singh, an operations officer with the 781st Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Meade, Md.
Established in 2010, the Army Cyber Command is in the process of consolidating its different locations at Fort Gordon, Ga., wher a new headquarters will be completed by 2019.