Photo Courtesy DRDC/Mike Franz

By Chris Brown

NATO trial: CFB Suffield hosts test of drone sensor capabilities

Jun 15, 2023 | 1:17 PM

CFB SUFFIELD, AB – Canada’s military envisions a greater role for drones and an exercise in southeastern Alberta this week will give more information on their current capabilities and future potential.

Scientists from Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) partnered with NATO allies to test advance sensors mounted on drones to detect what’s immediately visible and what’s buried, camouflaged or hidden, all from a safe distance.

“The capability to be able to search remotely using the most advanced platforms and sensors is intended to make it safer for Canadian Armed Forces members, and our allies, to go into potentially dangerous situations and accomplish their missions more efficiently,” said defence scientist Dr. Anthony Faust, who is the head of the Threat Mitigation Group at DRDC SRC and appointed Canadian representative to the NATO Science and Technology Office research task group NATO SCI-321.

“The whole DRDC Counter Explosive Threat S&T community is continuously looking for new sensors and effectors, and ways of employing them, in order to improve Canadian Armed Forces’ capability through the exploitation of advanced technologies. This collaboration with NATO allies allows us to validate this technology collectively, promotes interoperability between NATO members, and supports building next-generation CAF capabilities for the soldiers who are putting their lives on the line.”

The testing took place at Canadian Forces Base Suffield from June 12-15.

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The Department of National Defence says CFB Suffield offered a unique testing location where it was possible to set up realistic scenarios, including area search with unexploded ordnance and scatterable landmine threats, infrastructure search at heights, and many kilometres of route search in order to ensure a convoy of military vehicles can pass through. Additionally, the prairie spring weather offers additional variables such as high wind and precipitation that will test the operational limitations of the platforms.

Results from the trial will be analyzed and reported by NATO SCI-321 team. Capability development issues limiting the full exploitation of small UAVs for these military tasks will be identified, which in turn will inform future investment and capability development plans.