The US military is looking for effective countermeasures to drones
The emergence of a new weapon will certainly generate a means of countering it. The common phrase is quite applicable to unmanned aerial vehicles, which are now a matter of concern in many countries.
The United States of America, which dominates the development and application of unmanned aircraft, is also a leader in technologies to prevent malicious use. Recently, Washington has declassified exercises in which anti-UAV (anti-UAV technology) tests are being conducted. This year, such exercises, unofficially called Black Dart 2015, were held from July 26 to August 7 at the US Navy base Wuntura County (near Oxnard, California).
Dangerous "trifle"
The exercise was attended by representatives of the ground forces, the air and naval forces and the Marine Corps (ILC). Practical flights and live fires brought together representatives of the government, industry and four types of troops to evaluate and improve anti-UAV technologies.
"Islamic State militants can use UAVs to carry out bomb attacks on crowds of people, for example at festivals."
Similar previous exercises covered the entire spectrum of drones that pose threats to US military contingent abroad and a variety of domestic targets. According to their flight performance and capabilities, they are divided into five groups: from the largest group 5 (Group 5) weighing more than 600 kilograms and a flight range of over 5.5 kilometers to the smallest group 1 (Group 1) weighing less 9 kilograms and a range of up to 370 meters.
This year, special attention was paid to miniature drones due to the increased frequency of aviation accidents, said the director of the 14th Black Dart 2015 exhibition, US Air Force Major Scott Gregg. He recalled several such incidents. In particular, on January 26, an amateur unmanned four-rotor helicopter (quadrocopter) crashed into a tree on the territory of the White House. And although it was operated by a civil servant who lost control of the apparatus, the case gives rise to speculation that an operator with malicious intent could control the UAV, and this is what causes the defense department's concern. In October and November 2014, French security officials observed a cluster of unidentified mini-UAVs that made illegal flights over nuclear power plants.
On April 22, a mini-UAV landed on the roof of the residence of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Gregg could also mention the case when, two years ago in Dresden, the Pirate Party of Germany, in protest against government surveillance, launched a miniature machine that flew to the podium where Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke. In a recently released report, British officials are concerned that Islamic State militants may try to use UAVs with bombs against crowds, for example at festivals.
Over the past 15 years, the United States has almost monopolized the use of military drones, however, due to the fact that now more than 80 states acquire or independently develop UAVs, and in the Middle East, as you know, Hezbollah, Hamas and IS have begun using them. American leadership may be lost.
Toys in the hands of terrorists
Few are able to compete with the United States in complex and expensive systems, including submarine fiber optic cables and ground satellite terminals in Europe, which allow American operators to send UAVs with missiles and bombs into the Middle East. However, anyone can afford to buy a Group 1 drone for a couple hundred dollars for malicious use, Gregg said. UAVs are easy to fill with plastic explosives, radioactive, biological or chemical substances. Moreover, this threat is not imaginary, but real. In particular, a former student at Northeastern University in Boston, Rizwan Firdaus, is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence for attempting to launch C-4 explosive radio-controlled F-4 and F-86 fighter jets towards the White House and the Pentagon.
The level of equipment for easy-to-use small-sized drones is growing rapidly, and their cost is quite low. The Internet provides an endless variety of mini and even micro UAVs that can fit in the palm of your hand. They are difficult to detect with radar stations. With a few mouse clicks, anyone can own a small unmanned aerial system (UAS). UAS have characteristics and capabilities similar to those seen as threats. Some drones have a payload of up to seven kilograms, and what to fit on board is limited only by your imagination, Gregg emphasizes. Even the smallest drone operated by an amateur can wreak havoc on, for example, an aircraft. Terrorists are resourceful and use whatever they have to get things done.
"Black Dart" is gaining experience to combat drones, according to the Pentagon. The exercises give confidence that the spread of UAVs in the world does not outstrip knowledge of their capabilities.
In "Black Dart 2015", conducted under the leadership of the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization (JIAMDO), the participants tested 55 different systems selected by military units, government organizations, private contractors and academic institutes. JIAMDO's $ 4.2 million budget for the event covers the operation of the Point Mugu training ground infrastructure and the provision of a fleet of UAV-type training targets. Every day for five hours, a group of specialists led by Gregg launched up to six drones simultaneously over the range, while the participants checked the operation of their radars, lasers, missiles, anti-aircraft guns and other technologies that they offer to the military to detect, destroy or neutralize UAVs of all sizes and categories.
Can be a bullet and a rocket
This year on "Black Dart" the functions of training purposes were performed by UAVs of three groups - 1, 2 and 3. Among them were three UAVs of the 1st group - a hexacopter (helicopter with six propellers) Hawkeye 400, Flanker and Scout II, one apparatus of the 2nd groups (9, 5-30 kg, less than 460 km / h, up to 1100 m) "Twin Hawk" and six vehicles of the 3rd group - "Outlaw G2" with a wingspan of 4, 1 meters of the company "Griffon Aerospace" (Griffon Aerospace).
A positive aspect of Black Dart for the test participants is the fact that failure is also a definite result. This event is not considered a formal stage in the procurement process, so companies calmly test their technologies, knowing that if they do not work as expected, there is no need to file a report on the basis of which the Pentagon or Congress could cut funding or close the program. They just have the ability to use the test results for the intended purpose - to find out what is not working in their system and fix failures.
According to Gregg's preliminary estimates, Black Dart 2015 was attended by about a thousand people. And although the event has been declassified, the general public is not invited to it. Even the media were not allowed to watch everything that happened at Black Dart 2015.
What's more, much of the information from previous exercises is classified, said ILC Lt. Col. Kristen Lasica, spokeswoman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nevertheless, some of the results achieved at "Black Dart" in different years are still presented in the public domain.
In particular, it is said that the US Navy's MH-60R Seahawk helicopter shot down a training target simulated by the Outlo UAV with a GAU-16 12.7mm heavy machine gun, proving that old solutions can work well against modern threats. Also it became known that the unmanned training target "Outlo" in the exercises "Black Dart-2011" was struck by a laser weapon system with a capacity of 30 kilowatts LaWS (Laser Weapon System). LaWS is currently equipped with the USS Ponce, a large amphibious assault ship in the Mediterranean. This weapon is effective against low-speed helicopters and fast patrol boats.
On Black Dart 2012, an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter hit the Outlo UAV with an AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missile. This is how the US Air Force equips its MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper UAVs, and the Central Intelligence Agency uses missiles on the same platform to combat unmanned aerial vehicles. The Black Dart used modified Hellfire missiles, which were equipped with a proximity fuse for remote detonation on a miss, to demonstrate another type of anti-UAV technology.
Or even a laser
The results obtained during the Black Dart 2015 exercise were published by Boeing - its compact laser weapon system CLWS (Compact Laser Weapon System) with a capacity of two kilowatts disabled the UAV. During the tests, the beam of rays was directed to the tail section of the UAV for 10-15 seconds, said David De Young, director of Boeing Laser and Electro-Optical Systems. At Black Dart 2015, the CLWS system, carried by two people, also demonstrated the ability to recognize and track ground and air targets at a distance of up to 40 kilometers using a medium wave infrared sensor. According to the company, the range of the CLWS beam detector reaches 37 kilometers in good weather.
Previously, this system was tested for ground targets, and for the first time its work on air targets was tested at Black Dart-2015. She demonstrated the ability to work in tracking mode in April during the exercises of the 1st Training Squadron of the US Marine Corps MAWTS-1 (Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One).
The CLWS system includes a commercially available commercially available fiber laser used for welding and similar applications, which is re-assembled into a more compact unit (40% lighter than the previous model) with an advanced control device.
In total, the system weighs about 295 kilograms. The mass of the battery reaches 73 kilograms, but can be reduced due to the power supply from the vehicles on which it is located. The complex includes a laptop, a laser, a water cooling system, a battery compartment and a control device in a gimbal. Can be operated by one user, integrates with radar tracking, indicating the location of a potential target.
According to Boeing, the directed energy of the CLWS, invisible to the naked eye, can be concentrated on a target up to 2.5 centimeters in diameter, and the 2-10 kilowatt laser is powerful enough to disable the UAV's optics or destroy the device.
The successful results of Black Dart helped the research laboratory of SRC Inc (Syracuse) to develop software for creating an integrated counter-UAV system. Scientists have combined the TPQ-50 radar, designed to detect and track sources of artillery, mortar and rocket fire, and the AN / ULQ-35 Crew Duke electronic warfare system, which suppresses remote control devices. The systems were then connected to the sensors of a tubular-launched AeroVironment miniature UAV Switchblade, which can be fueled with explosives the size of a hand grenade. The result is a weapon that will suppress the enemy's drone signals, take control of it, or destroy it.
The result achieved by SRC is considered one of the most successful in the history of Black Dart. He also demonstrates that UAVs require a variety of countermeasures. The best protection will be provided by combining different systems in an integrated solution, as SRC did to detect, identify, track and neutralize enemy drones.
There is no panacea yet
The head of Black Dart 2015 admits that it is difficult to organize countermeasures, especially when it comes to small UAVs: “We have made some progress in detecting Group 3 drones and larger UAVs that are currently in operation. However, the limited capabilities of radars complicate even such an operation as monitoring elements that the Ministry of Defense classifies as LSS (Low, Slow, Small) - low-altitude, low-speed, small-sized."
This is corroborated by the case of Florida postman Doug Hughes, who piloted a single-seat helicopter on April 15 over Washington National Park, through the most restricted airspace, and landed on the west lawn of Capitol Hill in an effort to call for financial reform.
As the commander of the North American Air Defense Command, Admiral William Gortney, said at the hearings in Congress, Hughes managed to evade an extensive network of radars, security cameras and other devices, because a helicopter the size of a man is below the recognition threshold of aircraft against the background of birds, low clouds and other slow flying objects.
Meanwhile, the UAVs of the 1st group are much smaller than the Hughes helicopter, but even this is not the biggest problem. Since small drones have a very limited range, they are launched from as close to the target as possible. And even if the UAV can be immediately detected and tracked, there is simply not enough time to make a decision. Cases when a whole swarm of small UAVs are launched are especially dangerous. This tactic is now being practiced by the US Navy.
In addition to everything, even if countermeasures were able to detect and identify a miniature UAV and try to neutralize it, the use of weapons for these purposes in urban environments carries the risk of harm to others or property. A special case is the LSS-system flying over the Capitol Hill, which is controlled not by a terrorist, but by a child - it is not clear what to do in such a situation.
“This is all a big problem because technology, including unmanned vehicles, is constantly evolving,” said Gregg. "We're working on it, but I don't think we'll ever be able to say, everyone, we have perfect countermeasures."
Lt. Col. Kristen Lasika agrees that the problem is very complex, but some progress has been made. Over the years, the Black Dart exercise has provided numerous improvements, new technologies, tactics and systems that have improved the ability to detect, track and neutralize UAVs. The threat from unmanned aircraft may be on the rise. But it's safe to say that countermeasures are also growing and improving at a rapid pace.
