Army unit experimenting with small drones for ‘tailored cyber effects’

WASHINGTON — As the Army continues to determine the standard issue equipment for the 11th Cyber Battalion, it is experimenting with drones capable of delivering “tailored cyber effects” and jamming, according to an acquisition official.

The Army is testing its Radiofrequency Delivery Effects Platform (RDEP) on small drones, using a mix of government-developed and commercial-off-the-shelf payloads to deliver “non-kinetic effects” at the tactical edge, Col. David Bergmann, project manager for cyber warfare, told Breaking Defense. While Bergmann didn’t specify, those are typically jamming capabilities as well as gaining access to Wi-Fi systems, to name a few.

RDEP is a hardware and software capability that allows operators to load exploits onto cards and deliver digital bullets to blind or gain access to adversary systems. The Army is exploring how the system and other payloads can support real-time spectrum monitoring and tailored cyber effects — extending the reach of tactical cyber operations while minimizing unintended impacts on friendly systems, Bergmann said during an interview at the Association of the US Army’s annual conference last week.

The efforts are part of continued experimentation to determine the right mix of equipment, capabilities and platforms for the 11th Cyber Battalion and forthcoming 12th Cyber Battalion. Bergmann assumed the brand new role of project manager in July, leading an acquisition office that combines the Army’s offensive and defensive cyber efforts.

The 11th Cyber Battalion was established in 2022, building on the Army’s earlier 915th Cyber Warfare Battalion, which dates to 2019. The unit conducts tactical-level cyber operations, primarily through radio-frequency, electronic warfare and information operations, with operators working alongside ground forces. Its Expeditionary Cyber Teams (ECTs) are scalable units that can support traditional Army formations with these non-kinetic capabilities by request.

The Army plans to establish the 12th Cyber Battalion in the coming months as a replica of the 11th, increasing the service’s capacity to conduct these operations.

The 11th Cyber Battalion does not yet have an established program of record for its standard issue equipment, and the Army is continuing to experiment with different capabilities and configurations before deciding what will enter production.

Bergmann said the Army is gathering feedback from 11th on what capabilities its drones need to support — including offensive cyber, radio-frequency and other effects.

After providing an initial prototype for teams to test, Army Cyber Command is developing a draft of the kits, he added.

“How many of these different things does the ECT need? How much of this capability does the 11th need from a cyber perspective, how much EW capability [do] they need? Where do those overlap, and what makes the best sense to outfit the ECTs that are deployed forward,” he said, describing the questions driving the effort.

The Army has leveraged existing program-of-record gear within their experiments, such as the Terrestrial Layer System Manpack, a backpack-based system that can sense and jam signals, as well as the RDEP. But the service still needs to determine which capabilities and form factors make the most sense for the 11th and its ECTs.

The Army is looking at dismounted systems, platform-based and drone-mounted payloads capable of delivering cyber and jamming effects. The service must also determine which vehicles each battalion will use, what individual ECTs will be expected to do and how much of each capability they will need.

“We’re really trying to give the commander the flexibility to have and employ which of those capabilities he or she needs,” Bergmann said.

ECTs from the 11th have been deploying on a rotating basis to support operations at the southern border over the last year, providing lessons to inform the Army’s equipment decisions. Those experiences have helped assess requirements for ground-based and man-portable capabilities, as well as the types of drones and payloads the teams need, Bergmann said.

“This next year we have not made decision on what we’re going to go into production with. We’re still doing prototypes across the various different form factors,” Bergmann said. “We have some opportunities in the next year that we’re going to get with [the 11th] to get more feedback on that.”