US staged the most difficult attack of drones to test protection systems: what did the military achieve

UAVs, equipped with radars, machine guns, missiles, obstacles, were tested against groups of 50 drones of different types that attack simultaneously from different directions. Systems for defense against drones have recently been tested under the command of combined control of small unmanned aviation systems (JCO). About it reports Breaking Defense.

During the JCO tests, which took place from June 3 to June 28, prototypes of systems capable of reflecting swarms of drones of different kinds-jet, screw and mini-vertebils-were involved at the Hume's test landfill in Arizona (USA). However, JCO representatives refused to discuss how well the UAV protection system worked.

It is only known that ELTA, the North American unit of the Israeli weapons manufacturer, introduced two different systems - one automobile, the other portable - and the rest of the firms provided one system.

In total, at least four types of sensors have been involved in all nine candidate systems: radars, electro-optical and infrared chambers, as well as radio frequency scanners; And four types of "effectors": guided missiles, mini-pits for the destruction of drones, machine guns and producers of radio frequency obstacles. The latter option is the so-called "soft destruction" method that encrypts the GPS drone signal or its command line with a pilot-man, and does not destroy it physically.

It is interesting, however, that none of the manufacturers used weapons "directional energy" such as lasers or powerful microwaves. However, even without energy weapons, the script was so complicated that the military had to process sensors, combine information from radars and cameras to identify targets and assign these goals to a particular type of weapon. The task was not easy. "No means, kinetic or necinotic, alone could simply defeat this type of attack.

We saw that they really needed a complete systematic approach, a multi -level approach," - said Colonel Michael Perint, Head of Procurement and Resources in JCO. He added that all prototypes of antitrone systems showed a "greater level of maturity" and offered much better solutions than the samples presented in previous tests. It is worth noting that the military selected among the 60 participants of the 8 best companies: Clear Align, Trakka, ICR, Elta, Teledyne Flir, Saic, ATSC and Anduril.

Most of the systems they presented were multi -level protection that combines several sensors to detect drones, which are difficult to capture radars because they are small and fly quite low, and various types of weapons capable of destroying UAVs. The next JCO demonstration is expected to take place in early 2025. In the meantime, the military is analyzing the test results.