“During this test, we were able to demonstrate that we can successfully defeat drone swarms in a tropical environment using layered effects,” U.S. Army Capt. Bray McCollum said.
The U.S. military is using laser weapons to shoot down drones.
During a recent large-scale exercise in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. military used directed energy, or laser, weapons to take out unmanned aerial systems.
Lasers Versus Drones
As part of the large-scale Balikatan Exercise in the Philippines, the U.S. military deployed the IFPC-HPM Directed Energy (DE) weapon system to counter training drone swarms. The weapon, which was used for the first time in the Indo-Pacific, emits a beam of microwave energy that can disrupt, disable, or destroy enemy drones.
“During this test, we were able to demonstrate that we can successfully defeat drone swarms in a tropical environment using layered effects,” U.S. Army Capt. Bray McCollum, the battery commander of 1-51 ADA’s Integrated Fires Protection Capability (IFPC) battery, said in a press release.
The Army worked alongside the Marine Corps and the Philippine military during the exercise.
The unit responsible for the anti-drone laser weapon was the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (1MDTF). The 1MDTF is a theater-level unit assigned to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). As such, it has much greater flexibility than more traditional military units, deploying across a wide area of operations and supporting different missions. The unit was created to specifically address the threat posed by China’s Anti-Access, Aerial Denial (A2/AD) umbrella, which uses anti-ship and anti-aircraft systems to create a layered defense against U.S. aircraft carriers and aircraft. The 1MDTF is tasked with synchronizing long-range precision fires capabilities and creating a layered defense that aims to create multiple threats to an adversary.
The concept has been quite successful, and the U.S. Army is already working on establishing a handful of additional multi-domain task forces that will be deployed in strategically important regions around the world.
America and China Are Preparing for Drone War
Unmanned aerial systems, or drones, are not just the future of warfare. They are already here, shaping how military forces plan and fight. In the Ukraine conflict, for example, both combatants rely on drones for a wide variety of mission sets, using thousands (or tens of thousands) of drones every month.
There are two main ways that combatants can take out an enemy drone. First, they can shoot it out of the sky with ground fire, missiles, or lasers, as one would an enemy aircraft. Drones typically have relatively low speed, giving ground troops an advantage. However, they are usually much smaller than manned aircraft, which can present some difficulties in terms of hitting them with ground fire. Most worryingly, the drones used widely on the battlefield in Russia and Ukraine are very cheap to manufacture, making it economical to use them in huge numbers—potentially overwhelming an enemy’s air defenses altogether.
The second way to take out an enemy drone involves electronic warfare. As their title suggests, unmanned aerial systems do not have a pilot onboard: they are controlled remotely, sometimes from thousands of miles away, by humans. If an electronic warfare system operator can intercept the connection between a drone and its pilot, he or she can wrestle control of the drone away—either forcing it to crash, or potentially even taking control of it.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
