Adm. Brad Cooper, the new commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and Gen. Fayyadh bin Hamed Raqed Al-Ruwaili, Chief of the General Staff for the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, visited the Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center on 16 September during Cooper’s first regional trip. “Threats posed by the proliferation of advanced drones are a pressing challenge,” said Cooper. “Working shoulder-to-shoulder with regional partners to innovate and adapt is more critical than ever.”
The exercise, the fourth of its kind since the inaugural U.S.-Saudi demonstration in 2023, highlighted rapid prototyping and integrated defensive tactics. “Red Sands brought together U.S., Saudi and industry capabilities and expertise to identify ‘best in breed’ systems for detecting, tracking and eliminating modern aerial drone threats,” said Cooper.
Iran and its proxies have in recent years launched thousands of one-way attack drones and missiles, causing civilian casualties, disrupting maritime traffic and destabilising the region. The exercise tested U.S. and Saudi capabilities against these threats by linking radar and sensors such as the Signal Hunter body-worn radio frequency device and the Buffer Passive Acoustic Detection System, known as BPADS.
Other tested systems included the Vanguard scalable firing solution against drone swarms, Skyguard, Shikra, the Mobile-Low, Slow, Unmanned Integrated Defeat System (MLIDS), and electronic warfare options. U.S. and Saudi forces also deployed AC-130 and AH-64 Apache aircraft, Saudi F-15s and Typhoon fighters to detect and engage simulated threats.
Training scenarios stressed each layer of air defence, concluding with Drone Defeat Rounds fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. Each round contained 720 tungsten pellets, denser than lead, to deliver greater kinetic energy against small aerial targets.
The Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center serves as a forum for developing technologies, tactics and procedures against emerging unmanned aerial system threats. The initiative is intended to enhance cooperation, share best practices, and strengthen interoperability among regional partners.
Source: U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
