{"id":82237,"date":"2023-09-13T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=82237"},"modified":"2023-09-12T16:02:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T06:02:44","slug":"why-a-hard-kill-strategy-doesnt-work-against-combat-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/why-a-hard-kill-strategy-doesnt-work-against-combat-drones\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a hard-kill strategy doesn\u2019t work against combat drones"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The drone threat is finally being taken seriously. Following the relentless devastation they have caused on the battlefield, combined with the endless ways they can threaten or disrupt civilian life\u2014at airports, public events and jails, to name a few\u2014defence agencies and authorities around the world are now evaluating their stance on what just a few years ago were discounted as harmless consumer gadgets.<\/p>\n

But the warning signs have been clear for years. Back in 2020, drones arguably decided the Azerbaijan\u2013Armenia conflict, in which the former used Turkish- and Israeli-made uncrewed aerial systems to cripple the latter\u2019s heavy armour and artillery.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward a few years and the Russo\u2013Ukraine war has provided countless examples of the use and impact of drones. Both sides of the conflict are dealing with drones\u2014either monitoring their movements, using them to drop explosives or sending them to kamikaze into their targets.<\/p>\n

Outside the battlefield, cheap, store-bought drones have brought airports to standstills, disrupted major sporting events, threatened presidential elections and even been used to hack companies and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

As with most things that are perceived to do harm, the instinct of many defence agencies has been to fight fire with fire\u2014hurt it before it hurts us. Hard-kill capabilities are at the forefront, and there\u2019s a rising appetite to use bullets and lasers to down drones that come too close.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, hard-killing drones is rarely effective. The German Flakpanzer Gepard anti-aircraft gun has been successful against the Iranian HESA Shahed 136, but it remains an exception, not the norm. And despite its usefulness in the instance of the Shahed, it still suffers ammunition resupply issues, uses \u2018dumb\u2019 bullets and, ultimately, will face new challenges as foes get smarter.<\/p>\n

The reality is that the old-hat method of shooting at anything that poses a threat is extremely difficult when the target is a small object moving at 100 kilometres an hour in often unpredictable patterns. Many militaries have tried using small arms, but it almost never works unless the drones are extremely close and there are only a few of them.<\/p>\n

A centrepiece of Ukraine\u2019s defence against Russia is the use of soft-kill capabilities to defeat drones. Soft kill\u2014or smart jamming\u2014uses radio frequency instead of bullets and lasers. It can actively monitor for drones, unlike yesteryear\u2019s sensors, and take them down using handheld devices without explosions.<\/p>\n

Soft kill is also free of the restrictions of ammunition. Fragmenting rounds from large turreted weapons\u2014typically of the 25- to 35-millimetre calibre variety\u2014can down a few drones, but large amounts of ammunition are required to deal with just a few targets. Then there\u2019s the issue of setting up and moving the turret, alongside the logistics of resupply. In a warzone, militaries don\u2019t have the luxury of time, or ammunition to waste.<\/p>\n

While soft-kill capabilities such as jamming can \u2018light up\u2019 on the enemy\u2019s electronic warfare systems, firing kinetic rounds at a target is even more obvious to everyone around, and hence offers far less stealth and protection.<\/p>\n

With the cost of manufacturing drones consistently dropping, the appetite for using them in swarms rises. China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army, for example, has amassed an array of drones, including Chinese drone company DJI\u2019s consumer-off-the-shelf units, which are available on demand. If Beijing declares war on Taiwan, hoping for bullets as a primary defence mechanism would be akin to relying on a BB gun to bring down a swarm of locusts. Taiwan might destroy a few, but the thousands of others would achieve their objective, especially if they were $200 drones strapped with explosives targeting expensive tanks and civilian hotspots with kamikaze-style attacks.<\/p>\n

Even if, by some miracle, bullets and lasers become much more effective, there\u2019s incredible scope for collateral damage. Shooting a drone carrying explosives or biological agents will trigger those payloads, and the bullets and lasers could hit unintended targets. Bullets need to land somewhere, which make guns and turrets unsuitable outside the battlefield, and a powerful laser pointing up could damage a satellite in orbit.<\/p>\n

As well as having unlimited ammunition, radio-frequency smart jamming is primed to affect large, targeted areas, making it a stronger option against swathes of drones. It also comes with simplicity. Firing a smart jammer is far easier than discharging a firearm, doesn\u2019t create panic in a crowded situation, and eliminates the risk of collateral damage\u2014in fact, it doesn\u2019t even damage drones.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s in a war or in a civilian scenario, downing drones only solves one part of the problem. However, a drone that has been jammed remains intact, opening the door for retrieval and forensic investigation. This gives defence forces the ability to review data, including photos, videos, flights and location information to pinpoint operators. Autonomous units can also be managed by disrupting the satellite links, and then gathering crucial information about their origins.<\/p>\n

As drones evolve and become even more prolific on the battlefield\u2014and outside it, as part of grey-zone warfare\u2014it\u2019s crucial that tactics for dealing with them mature too. We don\u2019t need to shoot down everything that might be a threat to us. And with so many gaps in hard-kill tactics, it\u2019s crucial to get smarter about drone defence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The drone threat is finally being taken seriously. Following the relentless devastation they have caused on the battlefield, combined with the endless ways they can threaten or disrupt civilian life\u2014at airports, public events and jails, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1801,"featured_media":82240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[402,2338,239,1438],"class_list":["post-82237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-drones","tag-grey-zone","tag-warfare","tag-weaponised-drones"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy a hard-kill strategy doesn\u2019t work against combat drones | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/why-a-hard-kill-strategy-doesnt-work-against-combat-drones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why a hard-kill strategy doesn\u2019t work against combat drones | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The drone threat is finally being taken seriously. 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