U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stated that the U.S. Army plans to "establish at least two training ranges in the country within the next four to six weeks that will simulate realistic battlefield conditions in Ukraine," reports CBS News, writes UNN.
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"You can create a kind of electronic warfare and the entire combat environment, as well as organize joint work between drone manufacturers and developers of countermeasures against them," Driscoll told reporters on Tuesday. "Then we also want soldiers to be able to go there so they can improve their skills and work closely with developers."
Driscoll said the U.S. already has locations where the Army can safely conduct testing, and separately, the Army is considering a global range outside the U.S. for conducting "much more aggressive testing," including with hypersonic technologies. When Driscoll was asked about the location of these ranges, he declined to say until planning progresses further.
At least some of the current soldier training exercises for countering drones, such as one seen by CBS News in April, do not include electronic jamming — in part because the U.S. restricts jamming within the country, the publication writes.
Driscoll made these statements during participation in an "industry day" that the Army held to discuss with companies the Pentagon's desire to create more systems for intercepting drones or missiles.
Dwane Hayes, an official with the U.S. Army's Strategic Threats Office, told participants that Russia produces about 3,000-5,000 attack drones, such as the Shahed, per month and approximately 600,000 smaller FPV drones per month.
Hayes said the U.S. is "really good" at producing "sophisticated" munitions — more expensive, advanced, and more technical weapons such as Patriot or THAAD interceptor missiles — but they also need to create interceptors that are cheap enough to be used in a "brutal war of attrition" like the one being fought in Ukraine.
The war with Iran, it is noted, revealed the vulnerability of the defense industry, particularly regarding the speed and cost of production. U.S. President Donald Trump met with major defense companies earlier this year and is expected to meet with them again this week to push them to accelerate production.
Some companies are expected to be present, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and L3Harris — which produce components for more "sophisticated" munitions like Patriot interceptor missiles, each of which can cost between $4 and $5 million.
At the same time, the U.S. Army over the next few months will issue a request for information from a wider range of companies regarding proposals for interceptors that will cost less.
"This is not intended to replace the solutions we have — they are incredible," Driscoll said of the "sophisticated" munitions. He told industry day participants: "They are called 'Ferrari' products, and that's true, but we need other things to complement those products."
Trump administration plans to fund American drone companies - WSJ28.05.26, 17:43