The US Army News Service has confirmed that the U.S Army has plans to upgrade all its Avenger short-range air defense systems.
The Avenger is a surface-to-air missile system often mounted on a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, commonly known as the Humvee. The combined weapon system provides mobile protection against missiles, low-flying aircraft and most recently – unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Avengers have multiple optics, range-finders and a forward-looking infrared receiver or FLIR monitor. It’s difficult to see some of the smaller drones with the naked eye, Sgt. 1st Class Arianna Cook, senior career advisor for 14Ps at the ADA School said, whereas radars can pick them up and direct the Avenger turret to lock onto them.
When the Avengers were pulled out of depot storage last year, some were modified with a new “Slew-to-Cue” Avenger Targeting Console. This enables the turret to automatically turn and lock onto targets provided by remote radars, Cook said.