The US military plans to develop high-energy microwave antennas to destroy drones and missiles as close to the battlefield as possible.
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The conflict in Ukraine has shown since its beginnings that drones, even cheap ones, can become an effective reconnaissance platform or a weapon capable of dropping grenades or even falling on their target by releasing an explosive charge. There are also larger military drones with great autonomy, such as the Shahed-136 suicide drones used by the Russians or the new Ukrainian Scythe.
Faced with these threats and these flying bombs – apart from the border jammers, DCA or the use of very expensive surface-to-air missiles to destroy these cheap aircraft – armies are thinking about other defense systems. In their specifications they must be effective and inexpensive to fire in order to destroy these often inexpensive targets. To minimize shooting costs and maximize hit rates, the armies of several countries such as the United States, Germany, France, Japan and other major military powers rely on laser cannons or even railguns. For less than a euro per shot, they definitely hit the mark and that with lasers at the speed of light.
The Americans are ahead on this issue. On the side of their army, and in particular the US Navy and the US Air Force, the military relies not only on laser cannons but also on high-power microwave antenna systems to “burn” the electronics of these aircraft.
In demonstrations for the US Air Force, Raytheon demonstrated the effectiveness of its advanced mobile high-energy microwave and laser systems in destroying drones. © Raytheon Tech
Neutralize a drone or missile at the speed of light
The military contracted with Raytheon to design, build and test two microwave antenna systems. Prototypes are expected to be built by 2026 as part of a program to develop a front-line electromagnetic neutralization and defeat (defense) system using directed energy. The beams from these antennas could cover a wide range in the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Raytheon did not provide technical details about these antennas, but stated that these prototypes would be rugged and transportable, allowing them to be used in frontline contact zones against drones. The company is not on its first try. It had already developed an electronic microwave countermeasures system to protect air bases called Chimera.
Each year the Pentagon spends an average of $1 billion developing this type of directed energy weapon. It is planned to use these weapon systems on board aircraft, warships and land vehicles to shoot down drones and missiles that threaten positions and installations.