ABOARD THE USS NEW ORLEANS – Marines aboard the amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans have launched a portable electronic warfare (EW) system on a drone aircraft for the first time at sea. Stars and Stripes reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
11 Nov. 2021 -- A backpackable electronic attack module (BEAM) uses its technology to detect the radio frequency of a specific threat -- a hostile unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for example -- locate it and take it out, according to the Marine officer in charge of the 10 Marines and sailors taking part.
“It is set apart from other systems because of its ease of use,” says Marine Capt. Jesse Schmitt, assistant intelligence officer for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. “A basically trained rifleman can be taught to use the system in the course of an afternoon,” Schmitt says.
His team of Marine Corps radio experts, Puma drone pilots, and sailors spent two days connecting nodes to drones and then launching them off the New Orleans flight deck. The backpackable EW module trial was in July off Australia’s northeastern coast in the Coral Sea, Marine Corps officials say.
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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
