U.S. Army tests swarms of drones in major exercise

Too bad the countermeasure is already also COT :p

http://www.gizmag.com/battelles-dronedefender-beam-gun-uavs/39885/
 
That Drone Defender device would actually be ineffective against these types of drones if they're set up correctly - you'll be able to disrupt their command link, but the Pixhawk autopilot that controls those systems can fly via dead-reckoning, operate 100% autonomously and be set up to return to certain waypoints (or just keep flying a certain path via INS) if GPS becomes denied. Obviously if you're trying to do something like deliver a munition to a certain target, there would be issues, but for recon it wouldn't be much of an issue - you could still receive live telemetry as well; just not send anything / much back to it.
 
Dragon029 said:
That Drone Defender device would actually be ineffective against these types of drones if they're set up correctly - you'll be able to disrupt their command link, but the Pixhawk autopilot that controls those systems can fly via dead-reckoning, operate 100% autonomously and be set up to return to certain waypoints (or just keep flying a certain path via INS) if GPS becomes denied. Obviously if you're trying to do something like deliver a munition to a certain target, there would be issues, but for recon it wouldn't be much of an issue - you could still receive live telemetry as well; just not send anything / much back to it.
Click to expand...

More sophisticated jammers can seize can control and force them into the ground.
 
1) If the US military actually took a less-is-more approach to something like this, it would not be hard to imagine simple, cheap, disposable armed drones like this, similar in principle to the Aerovironment switchblade but much, cheaper. Maybe using the body of a standard hand grenade?

2) For every measure, there will be a countermeasure. How hard would it be to make a simple guided anti-UAV munition, perhaps fired from a standard 40mm grenade launcher?
 
Void said:
More sophisticated jammers can seize can control and force them into the ground.
Click to expand...
I can't view that article without paying for a subscription; is that the same as this?

If so, that system just exploits the lack of security in the standard communications protocol - definitely an issue, but only because there's zero encryption (each packet is unencrypted and contains the netID of the transmitter), etc on the data link; give it another couple of years (if not months; safety failures, security exploits and these 'drone killer' devices have made a big impression on the hobby industry) and people will either start applying encryption / security to MAVLink or replace it with another protocol.

I'm not suggesting that the military and other organisation won't try to stay ahead of the curve and have exploits or sleeper firmware to hijack control signals, but right now the creators of these devices are taking candy from a baby; in the very near future, it'll be quite a bit more difficult.
 
As in many instances nature is way ahead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0QVXVgcdhs
 
http://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/isr/Small_UAS_Flight_Plan_2016_to_2036.pdf

Demonstrate to Deter

—Will Skowronski10/31/2016

​The drone swarming technology the Pentagon is seeking as part of its Third Offset effort took a “large step forward just this week,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., Carter did not disclose any details, but said more will be heard about the project—headed by DOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office—“in the months to come.” Swarming drones are just one of the “game-changing” technologies the SCO is tasked with pursuing. Carter said the office is also developing a cross-domain capability for the Army Tactical Missile System—a surface-to-surface missile—by integrating an existing seeker that will enable it to hit moving targets at sea up to 300 kilometers from shore. Carter said as these and other investments, including an arsenal plane, “yield new weapons systems and warfighting capabilities in the coming years, some of them much sooner than you might think, they’ll need to be demonstrated so that they’re effective in deterring future conflict.” During an earlier panel discussion at the CSIS event on Friday, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said the Third Offset effort is “focused on one thing, and one thing only: conventional deterrence. It is designed to strengthen US conventional deterrence to hopefully avoid ever any major confrontation with any major state.” (See also: The Third Offset from the August 2016 issue of Air Force Magazine.)
 
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/12/darpa-wants-to-control-hundreds-of-air.html
 
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/04/25/drone-swarms-deployed-in-aerial-dogfight-test.html?cmpid=prn_military&comp=1199467398560&rank=0
 
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-army-drones-idUSKBN1AK2C0
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/08/04/2036251/us-army-calls-halt-on-use-of-chinese-made-drones-by-dji
 

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