How do you kill a Drone? more

Well we talked about a few swat ’em systems yesterday – there are others, such as Emirates’ Halcon small missiles which claim to be able to take down drones, choppers, UAVs, etc. by integrating existing small rocket, and canister systems. There are even hunter-killer drones, such as the net-armed hunter-killers developed at Robins Air base almost a decade ago.

But let’s move into science fiction – except it ain’t.

Two other kinetic energy weapons which don’t use ‘bullets’ come to the fore. Lasers and microwave systems transfer energy to what’s in their path, and if they are concentrated enough, can deliver energy sufficient to destroy the recipient without any bothersome ammunition requirements.  More later.

We are already testing a laser system on some Navy ships.

The U.S. Navy has one such system, the Lasers Weapon System (LaWS), already mounted on the USS Ponce and has recently deployed the new Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) on the USS Dewey. As The Debrief reported at the time, that system can interfere with unmanned aerial system sensors. In that same report, we noted the Navy also plans to deploy Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS system aboard the USS Preble this year.

For the USAF, Raytheon’s High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) is already undergoing field testing to identify and neutralize enemy drones. As Jeff Newson, the company’s director for high-energy laser systems, explained to Defense News, “Raytheon has updated the tracking algorithms and the advanced electro-optical targeting system that helps to identify the drones, with a limitless magazine. The cost per shot is what two people can pay for a cup of coffee, hence the advantages for customers who are going to target very small, cheap drones.”

You may laugh at the cost comparison – but consider we are routinely firing million dollar missiles at $20,000 rockets from the Houthis, this becomes important.

The Army’s system is an even more complicated, six-layer concept, composed of the Ballistic, Low-Altitude Drone Engagement (BLADE), the Multi-Mission High-Energy Laser (MMHEL), the Next-Generation Fires Radar; Maneuver Air Defense Technology (MADT), the High-Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL-TVD), and the LowCost Extended Range Air Defense (LOWER AD) systems.

Sigh… does this surprise anyone? Six layers! But on to microwave systems:

The Tactical High Power Operational Responder (THOR), built at Kirtland Air Force Base, offers a benefit other systems can’t. Specifically, it can spread a wide field of electromagnetic radiation to counter several targets at once.

Army Lt. General L. Neil Thurgood said, “The Army’s directed-energy capabilities will need to provide a layered defense with multiple ways to defeat incoming threats. High-energy lasers (only) kill one target at a time, and high-powered microwaves can kill groups or swarms, which is why we are pursuing a combination of both technologies.”

They all seem to like the Norse mythology, don’t they? (“Hulk smash!”) Looks to be about the size of a 20 -foot shipping container.

Back to those lasers. We usually use continuous-wave lasers, which are great for blinding enemy sensors, but not real good at energy transfer- we can blind ’em but not hit ’em. But using ultrashort pulsed laser (USPL) we can completely disable an attacker’s electronic systems or even blow the thing out of the sky. (Hmm, I’m gettin’ kinda..well…excited.)

“USPL systems are able to neutralize threats via three distinct mechanisms,” the Army’s posting states, “ablation of material from the target, the blinding of sensors through broadband supercontinuum generation in the air, and the generation of a localized electronic interference used to overload a threat’s internal electronics.”

Peel ’em, blind ’em, jam ’em.  But, here comes that fly in the ointment:

To accomplish this goal, the proposal indicates that the laser must operate in the incredibly powerful terawatt range (current systems only operate in the kilowatt range) and be able to fire all of that energy in a shockingly brief 200 femto-second pulse. For comparison, a terawatt is a trillion watts, as opposed to a kilowatt which is a comparatively paltry 1,000 watts, and a femto-second is essentially a quadrillionth of a second.

Packing that much power into such a short burst means this laser system will be three orders of magnitude more powerful than even the most powerful systems currently in use, and can offer an ultra-precise, ultra-potent option for forces hoping to counter the increasing threat from UAVs.  The Debrief

Sounds like the theory is understood, but we need the power and speed to make it work. Heck, I am not even sure how short a quadrillionth is.

Category: Science and Technology