Air defense

Everything’s coming up SHORAD

To say that short-range air defense is making a comeback would be an understatement; ready-to-go solutions to rapidly bring the capability back into service to address today’s threats are coming out of the woodwork.

Companies all over the showroom floor at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual convention last week brought SHORAD offerings to pitch to service officials roaming the massive two floors of expo halls.

What is most noticeable about the solutions at AUSA is nearly all of them take systems and platforms already in the Army’s inventory and reinvent them into mobile systems designed to take out air threats from unmanned aircraft systems to larger helicopters and manned aircraft. Some even had the added capability of defending against ground threats.

The solutions that are cropping up also reveal how industry is thinking about getting after an urgent need.

While many use platforms that have been in the Army inventory, several companies, such as BAE Systems and Orbital ATK, are combining newer tools for a multilayered approach.

And many of the solutions acknowledge that counter-UAS and SHORAD capabilities can be combined into multipurpose systems.