US, Saudi forces conduct Middle East’s largest counter-drone exercise

ISTANBUL

US and Saudi forces have completed the largest live-fire counter-drone exercise ever held in the Middle East, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Wednesday.

The multi-day event at the Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center in Saudi Arabia began Sept. 7 at the Shamal-2 Range and brought together more than 300 personnel fielding 20 counter-unmanned aerial systems, according to a statement posted on the US social media company X’s platform.

The exercise coincided with a visit Tuesday by Admiral Brad Cooper, the new CENTCOM commander, on his first regional trip since taking command. Cooper was joined by Gen. Fayyadh bin Hamed Raqed Al-Ruwaili, Chief of the General Staff for the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, at Red Sands.

“Threats posed by the proliferation of advanced drones are a pressing challenge,” Cooper said. “Working shoulder-to-shoulder with regional partners to innovate and adapt is more critical than ever.”

The US military has long warned of the dangers posed by Iran and its proxies, who have launched thousands of one-way attack drones and missiles in recent years, killing civilians, disrupting maritime traffic and destabilizing the region.

According to CENTCOM, this year’s iteration of Red Sands—the fourth since its launch in 2023—showcased advances in rapid prototyping and integrated defensive tactics. US and Saudi forces linked radar and sensors such as the Signal Hunter, a wearable geolocation device, and the Buffer Passive Acoustic Detection System (BPADS) to rapidly identify simulated air threats.

“Red Sands brought together US, Saudi and industry capabilities and expertise to identify ‘best in breed’ systems for detecting, tracking and eliminating modern aerial drone threats,” Cooper said.

The training also featured layered defenses, ranging from sophisticated electronic warfare systems to close-in responses. Simulated engagements included US AC-130 gunships and AH-64 Apache helicopters as well as Saudi F-15s, Typhoons and AH-64s.

In the final defensive layer, participants tested Drone Defeat Rounds fired from shotguns, each shell carrying 720 tungsten pellets designed to shred hostile drones.

CENTCOM described Red Sands as a forum for developing and testing new technologies, tactics and procedures to counter the growing threat of unmanned aerial systems while also strengthening cooperation and interoperability among regional partners.