OK National Guard holds Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems symposium

Austin Breasette/KFOR
·2 min read

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – As technology on the battlefield advances at a rapid pace, and warfare accelerates that, our military works to find ways to protect our soldiers from it on the battlefield.

On Tuesday, a symposium was held by the Oklahoma National Guard in a meeting of the minds for ideas to do just that.

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OK National Guard holds Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems symposium. Image KFOR.
OK National Guard holds Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems symposium. Image KFOR.

Military officials and their state and federal industry partners explored ways help service men and women survive, fight and win again those technological advancements, more specifically advancements in drone technology.

“Drone technology in the fight in Ukraine is becoming as important as the invention of airplanes were in World War I and World War II,” Maj. Gen Tom Mancino said.

Mancino described it as a major fundamental shift in modern warfare.

“Small drones capable of targeting down to individuals that are destroying tanks,” he said.

“Improvise, adapt and overcome” is a popular unofficial slogan for the U.S. Armed Forces and the same goes for those that met at the Hamm Institute in Oklahoma City. Military leaders joined with their state and federal partners to better understand not only how drones are used on the front lines across the world, but also how they can be used against the U.S. military.

“Our role in the National Guard is really to provide a way of taking those theoretical technology’s and testing them at our camp,” Mancino said.

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Policy, readiness and academic research in the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry were topics at the symposium. Others included UAS threats, Department of Defense and National Guard integration in advanced air mobility, maneuver training, integrating UAS in interagency operations, and counter-UAS initiative development.

Months ago, three U.S. service members were killed in a drone incident on the Syrian border that injured dozens more, which highlights this new threat to U.S. forces.

“You know, we don’t get scared, but we identify threats and we take action,” Mancino said.

It’s the Oklahoma National Guard’s first ever symposium on UAS, but it won’t be the last as new threats and tools emerge on the front lines of modern warfare. The symposium wraps up Wednesday afternoon.

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