Pioneers in defense against unmanned aircraft

2 Wing becomes a Royal Canadian Air Force pioneer in defense against unmanned aircraft with Exercise VIGILANT HARPY, held March 28-29 in Trenton.

It was members of the 2 Wing Force Protection Flight who created this training to meet the challenges encountered during Exercise PHOENIX WARRIOR, which took place last October.

During this first experiment, the goal was to confirm the state of employability of the system. However, the force protection team found that there were no procedures or standards for defense systems against unmanned aircraft. 2 Wing's Force Protection Supervisor, Master Warrant Officer Susanne McGoldrick, and her team then designed training to create standards and procedures for the Royal Air Force from scratch. Canadian.

The lack of information on defense systems against unmanned aircraft led the team to develop many scenarios to be able to collect data from as many experiments as possible.

Members of 2 Wing's Force Protection Flight have succeeded, with Exercise VIGILANT HARPY, in creating an event where they will be able to test and improve standards and procedures related to air defense systems without pilot.

In a world where certain geopolitical situations are not always secure, having a well-developed air defense capability is a priority. “We will compile lessons learned and tactical observations from the exercise and turn them into standards and procedures. Following this, recommendations will flow to the higher decision-making level with the goal of creating broader-scale policies and doctrines,” concluded Master Warrant Officer McGoldrick.