With drones decreasingly employed as common warfare and surveillance technologies, a number of government contractors and agencies have funded systems that look into new ways to knock the upstanding vehicles out of the sky. The rearmost among them is BAE Systems, which has tested a modified rocket featuring a ray guidance system to shoot down drones without the cost of being bullet options.
The recent testing took place at Yuma Proving Grounds, BAE Systems blazoned on Monday. The test involved APKWS ray- guided rockets used to take down airborne drones, which can be tricky to target due to their expansive movement capabilities. BAE explains that its rockets were paired with the Mk66 motors and M151 warheads, a new propinquity fuze, and the APKWS guidance accoutrements.
In particular, these recently tested rockets are ideal for shooting down the small politic drones used for military purposes, according to the company. BAE says the forenamed fuze is the key to this new capability, bestowing the rockets with point eruption and propinquity discovery; the recently developed fuze replaces the M423 fuzes preliminarily used.
With this tech, the rockets do n’t need to hit the drones in order to take them out — they can be stationed within the propinquity of drones to destroy them rather. The system is cheaper than using C-UAS dumdums, according to the company, plus they come with another benefit the ray guidance system means the rockets do n’t need to lock onto the target drone before they ’ll launched.
The APKWS guidance accoutrements will allow the service to use living rockets to address a new type of trouble, making them a more provident choice. BAE Systems says its recent engineering tests and test fires are part of a larger charge to develop ananti-drone system for the US service and the nation’s abettors.