I was intrigued to read about quadcopter drones being used to carry short-range missiles that could be fired against incoming drones.
A modified version of Malloy Aeronautics’ T-150 Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS), designated TRV-150, intercepted multiple one-way attack drones during trials at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in late September, according to BAE Systems. The U.K.-developed platform fired laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rockets from a three-pod launcher, engaging successive targets without landing to reload.
The test took place as part of a Mission Capabilities Joint Readiness Experimentation exercise of the Department of War’s (DoW) Office of the Under Secretary for Research & Engineering, or OUSW(R&E).
The latest test builds on an earlier APKWS firing demonstration at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in 2025. On that occasion, the drone conducted single-shot engagements against both air and land targets, while the new trial introduced a three-pod launcher designed to engage multiple aerial targets in succession.
There's more at the link.
I'm sure the drones and their missiles will add another very useful layer of protection against incoming enemy drones. However, there's another aspect to this that worries me.
These drones are small enough to get close to an intended target without being detected by most current defensive systems. A quadcopter drone can fly down a narrow road, or along a firebreak in the forest, so low that it can't even be seen. It can literally fly behind something like a delivery van if desired, and the crew of the van would never know it was there. As soon as it got within range of the target, it could pop up over surrounding terrain, launch its missiles (and, if need be, designate their target with a laser beam), then duck down and make its escape the same way it arrived.
Think of the targets that could now become much easier to strike, because nobody would know the threat was approaching in time to do anything about it:
- A refinery, processing plant, etc.;
- An armory or aircraft on a military airfield;
- Oil tanks or vital equipment in a harbor;
Terrorist groups and foreign powers will have no trouble at all getting their hands on such equipment. (In fact, the guidance system used by APKWS has already been fitted to non-US rockets with complete success. How many other nations have access to such rockets, even factories to produce them? The number must be in the dozens or scores by now. Even if compatible rockets are not available, there are competing rocket systems from several countries that can do the same job, and can presumably be launched in a similar manner.)
More and more, technology is a two-edged sword. We can't do without it, that's for sure, but how long can we live with its proliferation?
Peter
Drones are certainly changing the calculus of security. The Iranian regime recently announced that if Trump attacks again, its response "will not be geographically limited". That suggests that targets within the US itself might be on the table. Iran manufactures military drones and cruise missiles, so it could almost certainly build a drone with capabilities similar to this one, and a determined effort could smuggle them into the US and deploy them near a chosen target.
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, there are commercially-available drones in the US that anyone can buy, and which could be modified by attaching guns to them that could be remotely controlled, or explosives for a kamikaze attack. For any politician or major business figure you can name, there is probably some group that wishes them dead. Things could soon get very interesting.
THIS. Modern warfare technology is becoming much more about target selection and identification, as striking an identified target is getting easier to do.
ReplyDeleteFactors I have read about are those like the Ukrainians hiring gamers outside of Ukraing as remote FPV drone operators, or a recently released small quad drone made on mostly clear parts, which in flight looked like a blob of clear gelatine.
John in Indy
Well if we were smart, we would start moving critical infrastructure underground and damn the price tag. In fact we could go so far as to declare it a national emergency and establish the consequences of immediate death via hanging for treason if any contractors hired to complete this job screwed it up or lollygag around.
ReplyDeleteLord knows we have had the ability to harden critical targets against EMP bursts since what the 80s, the 60s? Yet as far as I am aware there was never an effort to do so for critical targets even during the cold war under the threat of nukes.
Effectively my point is this. There are ways to massively reduce the damage such drones can do. Well outside of assassination as there isn't much you can do against that. But there is seemingly no will to do so politically or even militarily. I mean come on politicians are what they are, but if the entire high command as corrupt and weak willed as they are all stood up and demanded this be done for the safety of America, there is a good chance at least some of this could be pushed through.
Anyway, that is my $0.02
- W