Electronic warfare for drones

submitted by binaryblob from self.technology

How would "electronic warfare" work against a drone that doesn't use radio communication from let's say a distance greater than ten meters?

Especially, if the drone had a faraday cage around its electronics (but perhaps those are not realistic for small drones).

I have the impression that EW only works against non-autonomous drones.

For example, this is an excerpt of a product in use in Ukraine:

It is designed to disrupt small and medium sized UAVs by jamming their communication and satellite navigation systems with an electromagnetic pulse.

Also, why are there no autonomous drones used in warfare yet? I could have built one a decade ago. Right now, building one (at scale) might even be cheaper than one that uses radios, because you need less components.

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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

There are these "switchblade" drones (Israeli development, what else...), which are fire-and-forget weapons for one-time use. So in my interpretation at least semi-autonomic drones.

The Iranians seemingly sold some similar devices to the Russians.

Since lasers are getting more range and smaller with advancements in semiconductors, I'd either use some Phalanx-CIWS-lookalike-systems for shorter ranges and smaller, self-destructing drones (like these switchblades) or laser for slower, bigger drones over longer distances. To at least disable them, especially when they carry bigger ordnance.

I'm quite sure, that some medium-sized fully autonomous drones are already developed in some lab somewhere.

To fight each type of drone individually with "specialized" jamming-devices doesn't look very cost-efficient to me.

[–]binaryblob[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Ryan McBeth (YouTube) claims that "drones have no future", because of EW-counter measures, but I think he just doesn't have a clue.

I agree that directed energy weapons are the future of defense, although it might depend on developments such as cheaper supercapacitors and batteries in places where nuclear reactors are not within 100m.

What I find weird about McBeth is that he is sometimes very wrong to the point that even his entire channel might be misinformation. It's of course a good tactic to present useless true information as true to build a reputation and every now and then say something to confuse your enemies. The most likely explanation is that he just isn't that smart, however. So, it's like 98% that he is likely not so smart and perhaps 2% he is part of some CIA-plot. People like him are great for the CIA, though, because he looks so incredibly average.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

More than 20 ago, I helped to build a fully automatic factory for bread and rolls.

So maybe this depends on the nuts and bolts of the definition of what a drone actually is.

But in controlled environments at least, drones aren't the future. They are present literally everywhere.

As long as they can be sold and cost less than human labour in the long run, somebody will manufacture them.

[–]Mildred56 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

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