The US military is sending new, advanced systems to detect threats from commercial drones being used by ISIS to carry explosives. Last week, Kurdish forces shot down a small drone and then two fighters were killed when they were taking the device apart, reported the The New York Times. The coalition has for months tracked the use of drones by ISIS for surveillance, which is still something that happens “fairly” regularly, said Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, during a Wednesday briefing. The US military, including the Army and the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization, is “supplementing capabilities already in theater” with new systems that can detect, track, and defeat threats from commercial drones. Dorrian would provide additional details about those systems, however, citing operational security.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
