MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- With new technology surfacing every day, the threat of being spied on by unknown eyes is an emerging danger in this generation.
After eight months of training, Army Msgt. Peter Cabanayan is visiting bases around the U.S. to teach service members how to combat unmanned aerial surveillance devices.
As drones are becoming less and less expensive, more people around the world have access to this technology. People are using drones to perform surveillance on airports, military bases, and other prohibited areas.
Cabanayan works in a team that consists of nine Department of Defense service members and one British army combat engineer.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization is a combat support organization of the U.S. Department of Defense that deals with threats such as improvised explosive devices and small unmanned aerial systems. This task force was designed to teach people how to combat drones. Along with performing their normal job duties, they went through hours of drone piloting courses to teach drone countering maneuvers.
“This knowledge is providing the Airmen formal training and hands-on instruction on how to counter these UASs,” said Cabanayan.
DTRA flew to Minot AFB from Washington D.C. to teach Minot’s explosive ordnance disposal squad how to combat and pilot drones. Minot Airmen learned how to identify visual and audio queues that come from drones. With this information, service members can combat drones more effectively, said Cabanayan.
“This is a threat worldwide,” said Cabanayan. “Not just downrange.”
With this information, service members can combat drones more effectively, says Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Graham, Minot AFB EOD technician
“This training is valuable because it’s teaching us how to mitigate emerging threats,” said Graham.
Now that our service members are armed with the knowledge on how to identify and stop a drone threat, operations can continue unhindered by spying eyes.