British Army Successfully Trials Anti-Drone Swarm Electromagnetic Weapon
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence announced December 23 that British Army troops have successfully conducted live fire trials of a demonstrator of a Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon anti-drone weapon system.
The live firing trial was recently completed by the Army’s Royal Artillery Trials and Development Unit and 7 Air Defence Group at Manorbier air defense range in West Wales, where they successfully targeted and engaged Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS), “in a first for the British Armed Forces” according to the ministry.
According to the MoD, the RFDEW uses high frequency waves to disrupt or damage critical electronic components inside drones and similar targets, immobilizing them or causing them to fall out of the sky. The ministry envisions a system capable of disabling targets like swarming drones at ranges up to a kilometer, with an estimated cost per shot of 10p, with it and the laser-based DragonFire system potentially providing a cost effective anti-drone complement to current missile-based air defense systems.
The demonstrator unit used for the trials can be crewed by a single operator, and is transportable on the back of a truck like the MAN SV already used by the Army. While the demonstrator design will not enter service, UK military procurement agency Defense Equipment and Support says “the knowledge, experience and data gleaned from the experiments it has undergone this year will inform future directed energy requirements”.
Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Maria Eagle MP, said the live fire trial was “another step forward for a potentially game-changing sovereign weapon for the UK”, and a “demonstration of the UK remaining at the forefront of directed energy weapons and developing a crucial advantage against the emerging threats we face”.
The demonstrator has been produced by a consortium led by Thales UK under a contract awarded by Team HERSA, the joint enterprise between DE&S and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Other members of the consortium include QinetiQ, Teledyne e2v and Horiba Mira, with the defense ministry adding that work on the system supports up to 135 high-skilled jobs in the UK.