Several countries are working toward enhancing their military drone technologies
to fight threats posed by hostile drones or loitering munitions.
To mitigate these threat, Lockheed Martin has come up with an armed drone named MORFIUS
MORFIUS is capable of blasting enemy drones out of the sky with a High-Powered Microwave (HPM).
Lockheed Martin presented the system as part of the AUSA’s Global Force Next conference.
MORFIUS is a reusable drone that and can fit inside a 6-inch diameter launch tube
and weighs less than 30 pounds or 13 kg. The compact dimension and lightweight nature
enable it to be launched from ground stations, vehicles, or aircraft.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how
Lockheed Martin's MORFIUS drone could help the U.S military quash enemy drones?
Let's get started.
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Drone technology has evolved rapidly and the widespread availability of
cheap but capable drones is a major threat.
The conflicts in Iraq and Syria
have shown that this kind of capability is within reach of even non-state actors
In January 2018, a mass drone attack was witnessed on Russia’s
main outposts in Syria – the Khmeimim airbase and the naval base in Tartus.
On 19 July 2019, the then U.S President Donald Trump had said that the USS
Boxer downed an Iranian drone. As per him, the drone came within
1,000 yards of the U.S Navy ship and ignored "multiple calls to stand down”.
The drone was taken down through the Marine Air Defense Integrated System or MADIS
which uses several types of Electronic Warfare techniques
like radio frequencies jamming to block the communication system of the drone.
On September 14 2019, the 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 AM
and drones as well as cruise missiles were used in the attack, there were 18 drones and 7 missiles.
The world’s biggest oil refinery near the city of Abqaiq and a refinery near Khurais,
where Saudi’s second-largest oil field is located were targeted.
At the presentation, Becca Schwartz, who leads strategy for Lockheed Martin Counter-UAS,
pointed to, among other things, the spectacular displays of drone swarms in the Olympics as an
example of just how much commercial tech can offer for potential terrorist or military swarming.
Schwartz added, “Accessibility to the hobbyist means that it’s accessible to the adversary,”
Drone swarm technology is being nurtured by many nations for combat use.
The technology of swarming is in which drones as well as smart munitions will be deployed in
squadrons, able to think independently and operate as a pack using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
This concept will allow thousands of independent units
to act as one and home in on the target in a collaborative fashion.
It is evident that drones are set to play an important role in the coming days.
Brian Dunn, of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
stated, “We’re focused on how we address the counter-UAS swarm threat,”
Lockheed Martin really believes, he continued,
“that an airborne delivered HPM effect really has an opportunity to make a big difference
against the counter-UAS swarm flight that we’re going to be facing in the future.”
Working as part of a layered approach to counter-drone defense,
MORFIUS units will be launched at hostile drones, or drone swarms,
and then disable them in close proximity, with potentially a gigawatt of microwave power — or,
as Lockheed put it, a million times the power of a standard 1,000-watt microwave oven.
Since MORFIUS can fly close to its targets and blast them with microwaves at close range,
it will require to emit much less powerful burst compared to ground-based system.
Viewers may note that microwave emissions lose energy as they cross long distances.
As per Lockheed Martine, MORFIUS’s compact airborne system provides extended range and
an onboard seeker to help relieve sensor requirements for expeditionary systems,
allowing it to be compatible with various defense service architectures.
So, MORFIUS will be able to nullify hostile drones
well before they can get sensitive areas like an airbase.
Mr. Dunn said, “You have to engage the target before
it gets to its ordnance release line, if it’s a kinetic effect, or if it’s an electronic attack,
or defeat it before it can employ its ISR capabilities,”
Importantly it is stated MORFIUS is capable of
simultaneously defeating multiple threats in a single defensive attack and combatting swarms.
Drone technology has seen massive growth and is being used in civilian and military fields.
Experts predict that drones will be a major threat in the coming days.
This kind of capability will be disruptive
as it will be hard to defend against with traditional methods
Recently images appeared on social media that show trucks carrying Avenger short-range air
defense systems on a highway between the Iraqi city of Ramadi and the Syrian border.
Viewers may note that just a few weeks ago,
the top U.S. general overseeing operations in the Middle East
indicated that small unmanned aircraft was "the most concerning tactical development" since
improvised explosive devices became the weapon of choice for militants and terrorists in the region.
It is likely that the air defense systems is deployed to protect forward bases that the U.S.
and other allied forces operate out of in cooperation with locals.
MORFIUS drones will work as a part of a layered approach to
counter-drone which will see systems like Avenger & MORFIUS acting in tandem.