Counter-small unmanned aircraft systems technology has emerged as one of the most prominent growth areas in the defense and security markets in recent years, as governments seek to not only defend critical infrastructure from violent extremist organizations and near-peer adversaries, but also from hobbyists. Threats across the contemporary operating environment stretch from the employment of airborne improvised explosive devices (ABIEDs) by the likes of the seif-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, to the breaching of national airspace at major airports by commercially available air frames. Gen. Raymond Thomas, commanding general of U.S. Special Operations Command, highlighted at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) in May 2017 how IS combatants had established "tactical superiority in the air" over Mosul, Iraq with more than 70 ABIEDs identified over an undisclosed reporting period.
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