Many nations are working to develop “soft-kill” countermeasures against drones, which rely on disabling them through electronic interference rather than physically shooting them down.
China continues building massive numbers of drone and anti-drone systems as part of its growing arsenal of weapons with which to counter (and possibly deter) the Americans and their allies in any future war.
One such system is the URS-680, which is being reported as a short-range, soft-kill counter-drone/low-altitude air defense system. According to public reports on the new Chinese system, it is meant to detect small UAVs out to around five kilometers and jam or disrupt them out to roughly three or four kilometers. The system is designed to operate autonomously and to protect fixed sites or nearby forces.
Everyone Is Working on Anti-Drone Systems
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, unmanned systems have become ubiquitous both there and throughout the world’s many other battlefields. These systems not only serve as useful surveillance tools, but can be fashioned into quick strike, highly lethal systems that can overfly dense enemy formations, and do significant amounts of damage without endangering the lives of friendly servicemembers. What’s more, in the specific case of smaller drones, they are hard to detect and, unless tracked as early as possible, difficult to defend against.
That is why every militarily significant nation in the world, from Russia to Turkey to China to the states of the NATO alliance, is working feverishly on counter-drone systems that fixate on destroying these small drones. What has been discovered after the three years of fighting in Ukraine is that, while it is possible to track and shoot down small drones, very often the only weapons available are far more expensive missiles, or else small arms fire with a far lower probability of success.
What Is the Soft-Kill Approach in Attacking Drones?
That’s where the soft-kill approach comes in. Basically, rather than firing projectiles at it that might miss or using costly missiles to down cheap small drones, a soft-kill counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) allows for those drones to be disrupted at the electronic level.
Soft-kill is effective against many small commercial and tactical drones. Like anything, though, it has serious limitations. For instance, these require line-of-sight, they need to lock on to targets, and their electronic disruption capabilities might be limited against fully autonomous enemy drones or drones that have been sufficiently hardened against signal disruptions.
Soft-kill jammers can also be overwhelmed by large drone swarms or by multiple approach vectors. Drones running on mission-level autonomy or on inertial navigation are less affected by GNSS jamming.
China Appears to Have Perfected the Soft-Kill Approach
China’s URS-680 is meant to jam or disrupt the radio links, the GNSS, and/or the datalinks that make the small drone operational. The URS-680 is entirely automated and can provide protection of critical infrastructure and bases, or point-defense around high-value assets 24/7.
Its strengths (from China’s perspective) is that the URS-680 is a far cheaper way to neutralize many commercial or small tactical UAVs. They can be deployed as vehicle-mounted or fixed-point defense systems to protect key infrastructure. These systems have good results with interdicting remotely piloted systems that are dependent on GNSS/command links.
Most URS-680 reporting currently appears via social media and in official Chinese sources, so the true capabilities have yet to be demonstrated in a real-world setting. But we know the system is real, since it has been displayed at multiple defense expos and the Chinese are fiercely promoting it.
China Needs to Build the New Systems at Scale
China has the scale to produce both effective (and larger numbers of) drone swarms of all kinds as well as the counter-drone systems needed to stop enemy drones from being a threat. The United States lacks the scale. Most defense experts do not believe that the Americans currently possess the adequate numbers of drones to be effective against a near-peer challenger in war.
As for counter-drone systems, the Americans are still getting theirs together. The frightening thing about China is how quickly they can deploy their own systems—and do so in such great quantities.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, and the Asia Times. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / Chester Hoth.
