#Uav

At the DSEI Japan 2023 integrated defense event held in Chiba from 15-17 March, drones and counter-UAV systems were at the center of attention. Companies from across Japan and the world presented drones built for every imaginable mission – from large, long-range platforms intended for strategic reconnaissance to tiny quadcopters intended to aid individual squads and platoons.

Engineers at the US Army’s Army Research Lab (ARL) at Aberdeen Proving Ground have filed a patent application for the Grenade Launched Unmanned Aerial System (GLUAS), a 40mm grenade launcher delivered drone, complete with camera. The GLUAS can be fired from an issue M320 or M203 launcher without modification.

During the  ARMY 2018 International Military-Technical Forum, a Russian company called “ Avtomatika Concern” (a subsidiary of Rostec state corporation) has introduced an anti-UAV gun called “Pishal” (Пищаль – a Russian word meaning the very early hand cannons). Interestingly, this weapon system will be sold both in the military/LE and civilian markets.

Belarusian YouTube channel called “ ВоенТВ Беларуси” has recently published a video telling about the Belarusian military news. In that video, they showed an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying an anti-tank grenade launcher. The demonstration of this rather unusual UAV was conducted in Losvida proving ground located in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. The mentioned video is embedded below and it starts from the point where it shows the UAV.

When the subject is the future of infantry, the conversation inevitably turns to one thing: Powered, armored exoskeletons. Since the publication of Heinlein’s Starship Troopers in 1959, the concept of an armored suit with enhanced mobility from an internal power source has fascinated military futurists, quickly solidifying as a military fiction staple, and even appearing repeatedly in official “future soldier” concepts from armies and companies around the world.

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Korean optics maker DI Optical was showing off many of their familiar products, but also had on display an interesting looking rifle attachment from a company called Jammer Korea. The attachment, named the “DRONE SNIPER”, is a familiar multi-frequency radio jammer, but in a slick underbarrel package that weighs much less than current standalone launchers.

Technology research and development company Battelle has announced the second generation of its DroneDefender anti-drone weapon. First released in 2015, the DroneDefender’s initial configuration appeared to be essentially a radio jamming apparatus attached to an AR-15 chassis sans barrel. The V2 introduces a new external design, streamlined jamming apparatus, and integrated electronics. Battelle released a product video for the DroneDefender V2, embedded below:

BAE Systems has announced a new robotic unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that could assist future infantry units with tasks ranging from explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) to casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), and even target suppression. The robot, called “Ironclad”, comes in two variants, and is projected to have at least four modular equipment packages, including a machine gun installation, advanced sensor modules, robotic arm, and stretcher mounts.

It’s no secret that the field of war is changing, and that fact is just as true for the infantryman as it is the F-35 Lightning II pilot. Increasingly, small, inexpensive, expendable drones are being used as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, as well as delivery platforms for light ordnance as well as kamikaze weapons. Today, the use of drones in this manner is in its infancy, but the next generation of purpose-built light combat drones is being designed and built right now. Israeli firms like Duke Robotics and UVision have already created armed and kamikaze (respectively) drone systems, and combatants in the Iraqi and Syrian Civil Wars famously used drones as delivery platforms for 40mm grenades. The use of civilian light drones as “snooping” devices has already spurred the development of anti-drone weapons for security forces, including both electromagnetic “rifles” that zap drones to take control of them, as well as more crude (but still effective) anti-drone shotgun payloads.

Kalashnikov Concern’s subsidiary Zala Aero Group has released a counter UAV device named the REX-1. The handheld device is designed to target a UAV/drone’s emergency land function, forcing it to land from a hovering position. Very importantly, it is designed to halt the location functions of a UAV by blocking out various geolocating systems, specifically U.S. GPS, Russian GLONASS, and Chinese BeiDou. Expanding upon its specifications, the device can block various mobile signals such as GSM, 3G, LTE. It can also jam the 900 Mhz range in addition to 2.4 GHz and 5.2-5.8 GHz wi-fi signals. The company says it has a range of one kilometer.

The Israeli Defense Forces are looking at acquiring a drone with a punch, according to news outlet Defense One. Per an article of their website, the IDF is looking at the TIKAD from Duke Robotics; a lightweight aerial drone that is able to be equipped with a variety of small weapons, from the familiar AR-15, to machine guns or grenade launchers. What makes the TIKAD most notable is its size: Much closer to the handheld drones of hobbyists than the high-flying Predators of the military, the TIKAD is one of a slew of innovative new unmanned systems that are small and light enough for motorized or light infantry to take with them to the battlefield.

“…Not until they invent handheld laser beams or something” – maybe you’ve heard this tacked on the end of an argument about how small arms are at their peak, and unlikely to change very much anytime soon. Well, the day when Star Wars-style blasters become a reality may be sooner than some think: Military technology giant Raytheon has conducted the first comprehensive flight test of a helicopter-borne high energy laser weapon capable of blasting drones out of the sky.

By this point in the second decade of the 21st Century, unmanned aerial vehicles armed with precision weapons are not strange or unusual. Indeed, they have so profoundly impacted the popular psyche as to have had pop songs written about them. However, these systems generally make a distinction between the aerial vehicle and the ordnance itself (e.g., an MQ-9 Reaper and its AGM-114 Hellfire missile payload). Then, what is unusual is a weapon which combines these two systems into one, a device that is both UAV and missile, both bomb and surveillance drone. Israeli news outlet iHLS reports on a device that is exactly that: The UVision Hero-400EC, a loitering reconnaissance drone that can fly directly into an enemy position to deliver a 10 kilogram explosive warhead.

By the year 2020 there are 12 million UAVs and drones expected to be around. Most will be used for fun, but needless to say, some of these will be used for potentially illegal activities and surveillance and possibly terrorism.

Our fearless leader, Steve, sent me an email that he learned the mother of all AK companies, Kalashnikov Concern, appears to be building unmanned aerial vehicles under the Zala Areo brand. A bit of back story on Kalashnikov, not only do they build AKs, trucks and other military weapons under the Kalashnikov brand, they also build a ton of other stuff like biathlon rifles under the Izhmash name, hunting shotguns and sporting rifles under the Baikal brand, even special purpose boats. Sadly we don’t get to see their products on US shores anymore as a result of some political posturing that prevents importation.