Anti Aircraft Drone - "Each service has each been assigned to sponsor one of those systems," Gainey said. "So as we move this forward as a joint approach, we'll coordinate the future upgrades of these systems and the contracting of these systems across the Joint Force."
However, what may prove more important is the introduction of enhanced radar and two new missiles that theoretically promise to lengthen the Pantsir's claws against both low- and high-end opponents that have battered the system's reputation in Libya and Syria.
Anti Aircraft Drone
That enhancement combines with a new two-stage 57E6M-E missile with a slant range of 30 kilometers (18.6 miles), or some sources claim even 40 kilometers and engagement ceiling of 59,000 feet. Speed is increased speed by 30% to a blistering Mach 5, allowing interception of targets traveling at up to Mach 2.9, or one kilometer per second.
Above — An Avenger Humvee At Top — M Linebacker Us Army Photos
The 57E6M-E is reportedly expensive and has a long minimum engagement range (1.2 kilometers), so it will be complemented by the older 20-kilometer range 57E6 missiles. However, for countering cheap and numerous small drone threats, there's also a new 'mini-missile' in development meant to serve as a cost-efficient killer of small drones like those attacking Russian bases in Syria out to a range of 5-7 kilometers
(3-4.3 miles). Obviously, actions such as these did not involve any engagements against aerial targets. Unlike today, cheap civilian drone technology simply wasn't that prolific. As a result, starting in 2005 the U.S. Army spent millions of dollars converting its Linebackers back to standard M2 Bradley models, retiring the M6 entirely.
SkyWall fires four projectiles instead of radio signals, and comes in three varieties: model 100 is shoulder-mounted, model 200 is stand-mounted and model 300 operates as a turret. There's a classic ballistic projectile (“SP01”) and three net-based options: a basic net to tackle the drone;
a net with parachute to "nonviolently" down the drone; and a net with signal-jamming electronics in case all else fails. These can reach 330 feet. SkyWall weighs 22 pounds and is marketed to police and government agencies.
An Avenger In South Korea Us Army Photo
With the Pantsirs disabled, Bayraktars went on to destroy LNA Wing Loong drones and aircraft on the ground and pick off self-propelled artillery, forcing the LNA to withdraw from its siege of Tripoli. One of the Pantsirs abandoned by Wagner was then airlifted out by a USAF C-17 transport to Germany for study by the U.S.
military in June. Go ahead and scoff at the sheer bulk of this 10-kilowatt capable anti-drone laser technology developed by Boeing, but back in 2014 this was highly advanced, and could function in heavy fog, rain, and wind.
Known as the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HELMD), it succeeded in "consistently acquiring, tracking and engaging a variety of targets in different environments, demonstrating the potential military utility of directed energy systems", according to Dave DeYoung, Boeing's Directed Energy Systems
Director. While most countries struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the civil wars in Syria and Libya have become battlegrounds for foreign states backing different local sides. External powers have intervened in both civil wars supplying advanced conventional weapons that have intensified the conflicts, but not all the weapons have performed as claimed.
Laser-Armed Stryker Us Army Photo
Perhaps the most startling example of this is how ineffective modern Russian air defense systems have been at countering drones and low-flying missiles. In the face-off between expensive air defensive systems and lower cost offensive drones and low-flying missiles, the offense is winning.
This Pentagon department focuses on developing the most advanced technologies possible, and is now joining the anti-drone field. DARPA aims to finalize a machine that is easily upgradeable over time. According to PopSci, it's intended to “neutralize” all shapes and sizes of UAVs and be portable enough to mount on trucks and ships.
It'll also defend against "rocket, artillery, mortar, and other conventional threats." Tracked mobility should allow a Pantsir to deploy into more rugged terrain—particularly overlooking areas where steep inclines create radar 'dead zones' hostile aircraft and missiles might exploit to close the distance to their targets without being detected.
This has left the AN/TWQ-1 Avenger Humvee as the only mobile SHORADS system maintained by the U.S. military. The Avenger mounts two four-round Stinger pods, as well as an M3P .50-caliber machine gun — a faster-firing type better optimized for anti-aircraft use than the more common M2.
Four hundred remain in service with the Army and Marine Corps out of an original force of 2,000. That doesn't mean the many anti-drone devices and systems the Pentagon currently uses are headed to the junkyard.
The Army said those will remain in use until they can be replaced with one of the systems on the approved list. Reportedly, in Libya Bayraktars would lurk out of range of Pantsirs, waiting for opportunities to pounce on inactive systems.
Jamming by Turkish Koral electronic warfare vehicles also weakened air defense radars, and by one account long-range precision artillery strikes also contributed to Pantsir losses. That implies the task of debilitating defenses like the Pantsir is best done by ground- and air-based platforms working in tandem.
In 2022, Russia is moving forward to procure a new tracked Pantsir-SM-SV model developed to provide close air defense to the Ground Force's own top-tier (or 'frontal') air defense system, the S-300V4 (NATO codename SA -23 Gladiator) which is geared for high-altitude engagement over long distances, including intercepting ballistic missiles, and is also tracked.
Placing the Stinger on an armored vehicle allowed it to accompany mechanized and tank formations on offensive operations while affording more protection. The Linebacker retained the Bradley's 25-millimeter autocannon for ground engagements, which has limited application against low-flying helicopters.
The increased velocity and ceiling also imply that the Pantsir could threaten even high-flying supersonic jets and potentially intercept attacks from supersonic land-attack missiles. Versus the latter, the Pantsir's would still need to detect the missile's small radar signature far enough in advance to allow time to engage, perhaps with the assistance of cueing by more powerful radars in an integrated air defense system.
Still, a Stryker armed with a five-kilowatt laser successfully destroyed 21 out of 23 drones in an exercise in May 2017, so laser-armed Strykers and JLTVs are a distinct possibility. For now, though, the Army has not settled on a mobile direct-energy weapon system it is fully satisfied with.
Officials determined the most compatible C2 architecture system for the job is the Army's FAAD-C2, or the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control. Interoperable systems include the Air Defense System Integrator, or ADSI, as well as the Air Force's Multi-Environmental Domain Unmanned Systems Application Command and Control, or MEDUSA.
The Army and Marine Corps have relaxed on their short-range air defense capabilities since the end of the Cold War under the assumption that the U.S. fighter jets would sweep enemy air power from the skies, as occurred in the 1991 Gulf War.
Seems very funny. Laser air defense systems are going to kill the drones. Drones my soon be lost with pretty good regularity. If the dones can see the target, then lasers can kill them. It seems like the drones are in more danger than the Russian air defense systems.
And drones are slow. If remotely piloted, then need radio communications, and that can be used to target the drones. If not remotely piloted they have to have a massive amount of intelligence. At least an aircraft has a pilot so it can be silent.
To counter such threats, U.S. troops need fast-reacting short-range air defense systems, or SHORADS — and better yet, they need them in a package that can move with frontline units on the battlefield, which the Army dubs “Maneuver SHORADS.”
Sebastien Roblin writes on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including the 19FortyFive, The National Interest, NBC News, Forbes.com, and War is Boring. He holds a Master's degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China.
"We will continue to work with industry to bring these systems to full maturity or replacement with follow-on enduring solutions," he said. "Future research, testing and investment decisions on capability modernization will consider not only the most up-to-date existing technologies but, more importantly, those new and emerging technologies currently in development."
In January, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord announced that the Defense Department had established an office focused on addressing the growing challenge of targeting often-lethal adversary drones. The goal of the 60-person counter-drone team, led by Army Maj.
Gen. Sean A. Gainey, was to determine the best systems for the task. Let's make something clear: We at The Drive love drones. But the demand for anti-drone weapons is expanding. To some—governments, police forces, state actors, farmers, property owners—unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) pose a threat.
The rapidly emerging anti-drone gun market is a clear reflection of that. Here's a brief history of 7 significant moments in anti-drone history. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is testing a wide variety of new vehicles and short-range anti-aircraft weapons to give it true maneuverable SHORAD capability.
There are proposals to install anti-aircraft missiles on a range of new vehicles — including the Bradley. A new SHORAD Bradley upgrade offered by BAE would come with a new thermal sight, short-range AESA radar and drone jamming systems.
To be fair, the conflict wasn't strictly one-sided: in Libya, reportedly, between 9 and 15 Pantsirs supporting the LNA faction of Libya's civil war were destroyed against 14 Bayraktars and two Ankas shot down. The Pantsirs had been supplied via the UAE and operated by Russian Wagner mercenaries.
Not all of these systems were defeated due to inherent technical shortcomings. The tactical and strategic situation in which these air defense systems are employed also affects their performance. For example, as part of a United States government foreign assistance-funded project, RAND has examined open source reporting that highlights how Syrian personnel operating newly-acquired advanced Russian air defense systems lack the training time that is needed to effectively operate these complex systems.
The repeated success of forces using drones and low-flying missiles to destroy or suppress multiple air defense systems on the battlefield is a cautionary note about the effectiveness of these systems against modern air threats. In both Libya and Syria, lower cost offensive drones and low-flying missiles have bedeviled more expensive, complex, and difficult to operate air defense systems.
Reports claim either three or four of these small-diameter missiles could be stuffed into each of the Pantsir's twelve launch canisters. That implies an individual Pantsir could carry up to 36 or 48 mini-missiles, although more likely a mix of different missile types would be carried.
Can Russia's Pantsir Air Defense System Grow Longer Claws to Defeat the Drones That Are Trouncing It?: Air defense doesn't lend itself to one-size-fits-all solutions. As Russia continues its protracted roll-out of the new S-500 surface to air missile optimized for ballistic missile defense in the 2020s, it's also planning to field new short-range air defenses aimed at shoring up growing threats posed to missiles and drones flying.
at much lower altitudes. The Pantsir-S combines a truck chassis bristling with both radar and electrooptical sensors, twelve radio command-guided missiles, and two rapid-firing 30-millimeter 2A38 autocannons. The basic model's supersonic 57E6 missiles can reach respectably high maximum altitudes of 33,000-49,000 feet, and engage targets out to 20 kilometers (12 miles), while the cannons provide an additional last-ditch layer of protection.
Battelle's DroneDefender weighs 10 pounds, straps onto any existing anti-drone gun, and blocks a UAV's radio, GPS, and ISM signals. The drone is then told to return to its origin and land. As Popular Science points out, the Defender works best in cases "where cops want to disable a drone without risking injury to bystanders or property."
According to Gizmodo, Homeland Security and the DoD have around 100 Defenders already. Check it out below, courtesy of Battelle Innovations. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.
RAND is non-profit, non-partisan, and committed to the public interest. Recent conflicts in Armenia, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine have demonstrated the widespread adoption of drones by state actors — as well as rebel and terrorist groups — for reconnaissance purposes and as improvised attack platforms carrying grenades or explosive charges.
Most recently, Russian air-defense vehicles and electronic-warfare assets in Syria reportedly defeated a simultaneous rebel attack by 13 kamikaze drones.
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