US Army explores wearable tech to alert soldiers of hostile drones

The US Army’s DEVCOM C5ISR Center is investigating a new class of lightweight sensors that soldiers could wear to sense hostile drones through their unique sound patterns. Beth Perry, director of the C5ISR Center, described the effort as an early-stage innovation project that may later link to software for threat identification. Jami Davis emphasized that the priority is to inform troops when they are being observed by unmanned aerial systems without burdening them with additional equipment.

The research is motivated by combat experience in Ukraine, where inexpensive surveillance and attack drones have forced infantry to move in small groups and seek cover. Ukrainian systems such as Sky Fortress, Zvook and FENEK have shown the value of acoustic detection, and the Army hopes to bring similar capability directly to individual fighters.