Army’s 11th Cyber Battalion Evaluates Drone-Delivered Cyber Effects for Tactical Operations

Washington — The Army is evaluating drone-delivered cyber effects and jamming capabilities as it finalizes standard equipment for the 11th Cyber Battalion, according to an acquisition official.

The Army is testing its Radiofrequency Delivery Effects Platform (RDEP) on small drones, employing a combination of government-developed and commercial-off-the-shelf payloads to deliver non-kinetic effects at the tactical edge, said Col. David Bergmann, project manager for cyber warfare. While unspecified, these typically include jamming capabilities and Wi-Fi system access.

RDEP is a hardware and software capability enabling operators to load exploits onto cards and deliver digital “bullets” to blind or gain access to adversary systems. The Army is exploring how RDEP and other payloads can support real-time spectrum monitoring and tailored cyber effects, thereby 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.

These efforts form part of continued experimentation to determine the optimal mix of equipment, capabilities, and platforms for the 11th Cyber Battalion and the forthcoming 12th Cyber Battalion. Bergmann assumed the new role of project manager in July, overseeing an acquisition office that integrates the Army’s offensive and defensive cyber initiatives.

Established in 2022, the 11th Cyber Battalion builds on the Army’s earlier 915th Cyber Warfare Battalion, founded in 2019. The unit conducts tactical-level cyber operations primarily through radio-frequency, electronic warfare, and information operations, with operators embedded alongside ground forces. Its Expeditionary Cyber Teams (ECTs) are scalable units capable of supporting traditional Army formations with non-kinetic capabilities on demand.

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

The 11th Cyber Battalion currently lacks an established program of record for standard issue equipment, and the Army continues to experiment with various capabilities and configurations before determining what will enter production.

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

Following the delivery of an initial prototype for team testing, Army Cyber Command is developing a draft of the kits, he added.

“How many of these different things does the ECT need? How much cyber capability does the 11th need, how much electronic warfare capability do they require? Where do those overlap, and what makes the best sense to outfit forward-deployed ECTs?” he said, describing the questions driving the effort.

The Army has leveraged existing program-of-record gear in its experiments, such as the Terrestrial Layer System Manpack — a backpack-based system capable of sensing and jamming signals — as well as RDEP. However, the service still needs to determine which capabilities and form factors best suit the 11th Cyber Battalion and its ECTs.

The Army is evaluating 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, the expected role of individual ECTs, and how much of each capability they will require.

“We’re really trying to give the commander the flexibility to employ whichever capabilities are needed,” Bergmann said.

ECTs from the 11th have been deploying on a rotating basis to support operations at the southern border over the past 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 haven’t made a decision on what we’ll go into production with. We’re still doing prototypes across various form factors,” Bergmann said. “We have opportunities in the next year to get more feedback from the 11th on that.”

Source link