A swarm of cheap drone armed with small explosives could cause massive damage to American military
assets including the Patriot Air Defense system.
John Rood, undersecretary of defense for policy recently stated,
“We’re seeing asymmetric investments in things like swarming UAS technology, like
unmanned aerial systems that really fly more like the cruise missiles.
It’s a serious problem.”
The Department of State press service quoted Pompeo as saying after Patriot's recent failure
in Saudi Arabia, "We’ve seen air defense systems all around
the world have mixed success.
Some of the finest in the world don’t always pick things up.
We want to work to make sure that infrastructure and resources are put in place such that attacks
like this would be less successful than this one appears to have been.”
Given that the Patriot couldn’t detect the drones it can be said that they are themselves
vulnerable to a strike.
So, it can be said that the protector needs protection.
The U.S military will have to address the growing challenge of targeting small, basic
but potentially lethal drones.
To meet this kind of threat U.S military will be inducting 'kamikaze drone’.
In this video Defense Updates reports on Raytheon's Howler counter-unmanned aerial systems to
protect Patriot air defense systems.
Let’s get started.
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The proliferation of drone technology has meant that the chances of facing asymmetric
threats are much greater than it was a decade before.
In January 2018 Russian forces faced a drone swarm launched against Khmeimim Air Base,
in Syria.
The Russian were able to neutralize these drones.
Though the attack was able to inflict limited damage it indicated that the threat of the
drone swarm has arrived.
A recent example is the September attack on Saudi Arabia.
On September 14, facilities of Saudi Arabia's oil company Aramco located in the east of
the country came under attack.
As per reports, the raid began around 4 a.m and drones as well as cruise missiles were
used in the attack, there were 18 drones and 7 missiles.
Being facilities of very significant importance, they were protected by layered air defense
The outer layer was Patriot PAC-2 surface-to-air missile batteries that the U.S. sold to Saudi
Arabia to intercept aircraft and missiles.
The inner layer consisted of several short-range automatic gun systems that were designed for
last-ditch defense.
In this case, the Patriot air defense failed to detect the incoming threats or was too
late.
From amateur videos available online, it seems Patriot fired interceptor missiles randomly
which failed to bring down the intended targets.
The automatic gun systems were fired sporadically, but the threats were not taken down.
The attack disrupted shipments of 5.7 million barrels of oil daily which is around 50% of
Saudi Arabia’s output and this caused a spike in global oil prices.
A future attack could target the Patriot air defense systems directly.
This is where Raytheon's Howler system comes in.
The Patriot Missile System is manufactured by Raytheon is an air defense system designed
to protect against different kinds of aerial threats.
It entered service in1981.
The Patriot system has four major operational functions: communications, command and control,
radar surveillance, and missile guidance.
The four functions are designed to work seamlessly to provide a coordinated, secure, integrated,
mobile air defense system.
Different variants of Patriot systems have been sold to many countries like the Netherlands,
Poland, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait to name a few.
The Patriot system is expected to remain in the service until at least 2040.
The eye of the Patriot air defense system is the radar is AN/MPQ-65 radar which is used
to detect and track targets.
The AN/MPQ-65 Radar is a passive electronically scanned array radar.
It is equipped with IFF (Identification friend or foe) and electronic counter-countermeasure
to resist jamming.
The radar has a range of around 100 miles or 160 km.
The PAC-2 missile is 5.8 meters (19 ft 0 in) long, weighs about 900 kilograms (2,000 lb),
and is propelled by a solid-fueled rocket motor.
It has a range of 45 miles or 70 km and can reach a maximum altitude of 15 miles or 24
km.
A Patriot surface-to-air missile costs around 1 million each and it is not designed to counter
small drones.
John Hobday, head of business development for Coyote and Rapid Development Programs
at Raytheon Missile Systems stated,
"You don't want to shoot a Patriot at a small UAV, because that's an important asset to
take on a much more complex target.
So that's why the Army came to us with this counter-UAS problem, and they said, 'Hey,
Patriot's great for what it does.
But we have to deal now with this new emerging target, and we need to do it in a cost-effective
way and we have to do it quickly."
Howler combines the capabilities of Raytheon's Ku band radio frequency or KuRFS system multi-mission
simultaneous radar and Coyote® unmanned aircraft system.
Howler works with KuRFS using its advanced seeker and warhead to identify and eliminate
UAS threats.
Coyote consists of mainly 3 components:
1.
Two 4-tube launchers on standard Army 6x6 tactical truck for launching Coyotes
2.
KuRFS fire control radar to cue in the Coyote to intercept their targets.
3.
A generator to provide the necessary power.
Coyote weighs less than 10 pounds.
It can be launched by firing like a traditional missile from a launch tube.
So, Coyote could potentially be launched from air, sea, and land in the future.
Once it leaves the launcher the drone deploys its 6 foot wide main wing, rear stabilizer,
and tail fins.
The operator can now issue commands to control and direct it.
According to Military.com, the KRFS-directed modified Block 1B versions successfully hit
11 out of 12 targets.
Specifications like range and endurance have not been divulged.
As per reports, the Block 2 variant which is more advanced than the Block 1B being acquired
by U.S Army, can loiter up-to 1 Hr and has a range of 50-mile
According to Raytheon multiple Coyotes might be able to defeat drone swarms, too.
The company could load it with software that it developed as part of the U.S. Navy’s
Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology effort, or LOCUST, which lets them operate as a group
themselves.
The Patriot system is responsible for providing air defense cover to many important American
assets like airbases.
Given that it has been found to be vulnerable to the new age drone, it is prudent for the
American military to find a counter.
Howler seems to fit the scenario.
Cliff Johnson, director of Tactical Radar business development for Raytheon Integrated
Defense Systems explained integrating the Howler with the Patriot doesn't just add defense
capabilities, but also creates a further layer of protection for the larger system.
He said, "So we'll have a Howler system to defeat any
of those small [unmanned aerial vehicles] that may want to be a kamikaze type of a missile
into the Patriot system itself.
So that's a classic piece of how we're integrating and keeping that layered air defense and counter-UAS
architecture together to protect the protector,"
It remains to be seen how things pan out in the future.