Meet 7 Counter-Drone Systems
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Counter drone technologies have become highly needed as drone threats proliferate. Military drones, for example, can be used to deliver payloads to potential targets, while drones can also be used to deliver contraband to prisoners. Drones may also intentionally stray into flight paths of aircraft, or breach security to take photos or record video footage.
Counter Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (C-UAV), or anti-drone, weapons, and guns are any of a range of countermeasures designed to either destroy or immobilize a target drone. They can come in the form of handheld weapons akin to traditional projectile guns, to larger artillery-scale devices and even smart missiles.
According to interestingengineering.com, anti-drone guns act in various ways:
- They physically destroy the drone using a projectile like a missile.
- They use of high-energy beams to either disrupt or destroy drones outright.
- They disrupt the drone’s systems (like GPS, R/C, etc).
- They can physically capture drones midflight using things like nets.
Here are several examples of anti-drone weapons from around the world.
- The Droneshield DroneGun Tactical and DroneGun Mk111 both work by disrupting the connection between the drone and it’s pilot’s controls at a distance of up to 2.5 km away.
- Developed by Lockheed Martin, the Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) system designed to take out military-grade drones. It works by literally blasting drones out of the sky using a giant laser. The systems currently being trialed with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense command are 30-kilowatt versions.
- SkyWall 100 is basically an anti-drone bazooka that can take out drones up to 100 meters away. Each unit weighs around 22 pounds (10 kg) and is designed to be fired from the shoulder. They use compressed air to launch their specially designed nets with pretty good accuracy.
- ELI-4030 Drone Guard, developed by ELTA Systems, is yet another high-tech solution to the potential security threats offered by drones. Fitted with an Active Electronically Scanning Phased Array (AESA), Combined COMINT/Jammer, and Remote Control and GPS/GLONASS jamming, this system is able to knock out a range of drones and other UAVs.
- DroneDefender – a direct-energy anti-drone weapon. Originally developed by Battelle, the system has since been acquired by Dedrone as of 2019.
The weapon works by disrupting the drone’s remote control system, and GPS forcing it to automatically land. It weighs around 15 pounds (7 kg) and has enough power to run continuously for 2 hours or so.
- Developed by Boeing, the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HELMD) utilizes high energy lasers. The truck mounted system can be controlled using an Xbox controller, and is able to knock out drones in any weather conditions.
- SAVAGE (Smart Anti-Vehicle Aerial Guided Engagement) – a surface-to-air and air-to-air anti-UAV missile developed by SmartRounds. This is a revolutionary new class of smart “fire and forget” projectiles designed for use by government security and military agencies.
Once launched, the mini-rockets travel at 350 mph (563 kph) and are guided to their target using computer vision object detection and target tracking, a form of artificial intelligence AI.
With such variety of measures, every security agency can find the model that is most suited to its targets.
