The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is increasingly training to defend against small drones (Counter-small Unmanned Aerial Systems – C-sUAS) using the existing weapons of infantry units. Last month at the USMC base at Twentynine Palms in California, for the first time a three-day training program on short-range counter-drone operations took place for personnel of the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions.
For this, the Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group (TTECG) laid out C-sUAS firing ranges, on which weapons such as the M4 carbine and the M27 rifle in 5.56 mm caliber, as well as the M320 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher (variants of the HK416 or the AG36 from Heckler & Koch), the M1014 shotgun (Benelli M4), the M32A1 Grenade Launcher (Milkor MGL), and electronic jamming systems were employed against small drones at ranges down to 20 meters, with speeds of up to 150 km/h.
USMC also procures ammunition and weapon stations for C-UAS
In addition to live-fire training, the Marines practiced, for example, patrols and close-quarters combat under drone threat. The aim was to impart to them fundamental knowledge and skills for recognizing, avoiding, and defeating sUAS so that they could carry these into their home units for future exercises. On the one hand, they should continually consider this threat, while on the other hand develop the necessary confidence to successfully complete their missions.
The USMC is also procuring 5.56 mm multi-projectile or disintegrating ammunition, which increases the hit probability of standard weapons against small drones. To counter larger types, the Corps recently awarded a contract for the AI-assisted weapon station Bullfrog by Allen Control Systems. This is intended to automatically detect, track, and engage flying threats with the introduced M240 machine gun, 7.62 mm caliber (FN MAG), in order to strengthen the air defense of all troops.
