The United States and Saudi Arabia have conducted the Middle East’s largest live-fire counter-UAS exercise, bringing together more than 300 personnel and 20 different systems to test layered defenses against modern drone threats.
The exercise took place Sept. 7 – 16 at the Shamal-2 Range in northeastern Saudi Arabia as part of the Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center. It marked the fourth iteration of Red Sands since its launch in 2023 and focused on integrating radar, sensors, electronic warfare and kinetic effectors into a unified defensive architecture.
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 event on Sept. 16. The trip was Cooper’s first to the region since assuming command.
“Threats posed by the proliferation of advanced drones are a pressing challenge,” Cooper said during the visit. “Working shoulder-to-shoulder with regional partners to innovate and adapt is more critical than ever.”
The training highlighted multi-domain responses to drone attacks, including ground-based systems such as Skyguard, Shikra and the Mobile-Low, Slow, Unmanned Integrated Defeat System (MLIDS), as well as electronic warfare tools.
Newer detection technologies were also evaluated, including the Signal Hunter, a body-worn passive RF sensing and geolocation device, and the Buffer Passive Acoustic Detection System (BPADS).
U.S. and Saudi aircraft including AC-130 gunships, AH-64 Apaches, F-15s and Typhoon fighters supported the exercises by engaging aerial targets. Scenarios culminated in close-range engagements using Drone Defeat Rounds (DDRs), 12-gauge shotgun shells carrying tungsten pellets designed to neutralize small drones.
The Red Sands initiative was created to provide a testbed for new technologies and tactics while strengthening interoperability among U.S. and regional partners. Organizers said the latest iteration built on lessons learned in previous experiments and accelerated the integration of rapidly prototyped systems into operational training.
RELATED CONTENT: CENTCOM Colonel discusses the challenge of adapting to the drone threat
Post Image Credit: U.S. CENTCOM
Follow C-UAS Hub on LinkedIn for regular counter-UAS content updates.
