03.06.2022, 11:18
Zitat:Report to Congress on Anti-Drone Weaponshttps://news.usni.org/2022/06/01/report-...ne-weapons
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly called drones, have proliferated rapidly and are available to nation states and to nonstate actors and individuals. [...]
As a result, in FY2023, the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to spend at least $668 million on counter-UAS (C-UAS) research and development and at least $78 million on C-UAS procurement. As DOD continues to develop, procure, and deploy these systems, congressional oversight of their use may increase, and Congress may have to make decisions about future authorizations, appropriations, and other legislative actions. [...]
C-UAS can employ a number of methods to detect the presence of hostile or unauthorized UAS. The first is using electro-optical, infrared, or acoustic sensors to detect a target by its visual, heat, or sound signatures, respectively. A second method is to use radar systems. However, these methods are not always capable of detecting small UAS due to the limited signatures and size of such UAS. [...] Once detected, the UAS may be engaged or disabled. Electronic warfare “jamming” can interfere with a UAS’s communications link to its operator. Jamming devices can be as light as 5 to 10 pounds and therefore man-portable, or as heavy as several hundred pounds and in fixed locations or mounted on vehicles. [...]
The Air Force is testing high-powered microwaves and lasers—both forms of directed energy—for C-UAS missions. For example, in October 2019, the Air Force received delivery of a vehicle-mounted C-UAS prototype— the High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS)—that will undergo a year-long overseas field test. HELWS is intended to identify and neutralize hostile or unauthorized UAS in seconds and, when connected to a generator, to provide “a nearly infinite number of shots. [...] The Navy also plans to deploy ODIN, an optical dazzler that interferes with UAS sensors, and HELIOS, a 60-kilowatt laser, aboard the USS Preble (DDG-88) in 2021. Both systems are intended to protect U.S. assets from UAS attacks. [...]
C-UAS is also part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s six-layer air and missile defense concept, composed of (1) Ballistic, Low-Altitude Drone Engagement (BLADE), (2) Multi-Mission High-Energy Laser (MMHEL), (3) Next-Generation Fires Radar, (4) Maneuver Air Defense Technology (MADT), (5) High-Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL-TVD), and (6) Low- Cost Extended Range Air Defense (LOWER AD). Although these systems are still in development, the Army has fielded some man-portable, vehicle-mounted, and airborne C-UAS systems. [...]
DOD is researching and developing a number of C-UAS technologies. For example, the Joint Staff and other DOD agencies have participated in C-UAS efforts such as Black Dart, an exercise intended to “[assess and validate] existing and emerging air and missile defense capabilities and concepts specific to the C-UAS mission set” and “[advocate] for soldiers’ desired C-UAS capabilities.” In addition, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funds technology development programs for C- UAS such as CounterSwarmAI, which is to “develop systems for anticipating and defeating autonomous systems of the future,” and the Multi-Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System for ship-based point defense.
Schneemann