One of the latest developments in small arms are anti-drone guns. With the increasing adoption and use of unmanned vehicles, the need for a portable handheld weapon system capable of destroying them becomes more and more important. I won’t be surprised if we see world’s major armies adopting such weapons in near future (at squad or platoon level).

Images by Lokmas

Earlier we saw several developments of this new weapon type. Since 2016 a Russian company called Lokmas (Локмас) manufactures such anti-drone guns, too. And just recently the Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation has shown interest in this weapon system. The company representatives have had a meeting with Russian military officials. As a result of negotiations, the manufacturer will submit some samples for military trials, which will start by the end of April 2017. The results of these trials will probably lead to a new solicitation, which in turn will be a basis to design a new dedicated military version of the weapon.

This jammer is designed to be used by one operator and doesn’t require any special training or skills. Its effective range is 500 meters. The way it works is it uses optical and electrical jamming measures to cut the communication of the drone with its control station. It also has a laser which can disable the surveillance cameras on UAVs. This weapon was initially designed not for military but for civilian/security use. It is meant to disable drones without necessarily damaging them.

Is it correct to call these weapons guns or firearms? It is arguable. They don’t launch a projectile but are rather jammers. However, they are capable of doing damage at a distance.

Sources:

Военное.рф

http://antikopter.ru/