Tanks and manned aircraft are beginning to look like the battleships of WWII. Obsolete and vulnerable. I expect artillery to meet the same fate, once enough drones on either side, of enough range, are placed into battle. Simple artillery is too big, too slow, too easily detected. It seems it is the artillery ammo dumps which are targeted the most, at present. When you have to move hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, they are hard to hide.
And aircraft carriers. You can't really deploy them close to a hostile country anymore.
armies consisting of 1,000’s of drones are the future, maybe even 10’s of thousands. You just swarm the big stuff and kill it just like the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
- - -
Videos:
November 10, 2021
"Skynex Air Defence System in a truck-mounted version, successfully engaging a swarm of eight small drones with the 35mm Revolver Gun Mk3"
Rheinmetall Air Defence: Skynex truck-mounted engaging drone swarm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb5_F4_Eod8October 7, 2022
"Since the war in Ukraine started, the EDM4S (Electronic Drone Mitigation System) has been a key component in targeting Russian drones."
The anti-drone gun giving Ukraine an advantage over Russia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GPLsJ4FLuAOctober 17, 2022
Ukrainian drone tracks Russian drone and blasting it out of the sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWVbTC5aEA8November 14, 2022
"Ukraine has been using the German-made Gepard anti-aircraft gun to shoot down Russia's Shahed-136 drones."
Ukraine: The German-made Gepard anti-aircraft gun taking down Russian drones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuWDtQhkF98June 11, 2023
Czech anti-aircraft gun (Twitter, video)
https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1667790908572532736June 15, 2023
"Among the arsenal of weapons aiding Ukraine in its battle against Russian aggression, one particular marvel has emerged as a true force to be reckoned with – the Flakpanzer Gephard."
How German Gepards Victorious Over Russian Drones in Ukraine?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDz8E6ZBWMM
- - -
Drone Detection
Aerial Armor
https://www.aerialarmor.com/blog/range-of-the-dji-aeroscope
https://www.aerialarmor.com/drone-detection-equipment/drone-detection-radar-systems
https://www.aerialarmor.com/drone-detection-equipment/drone-detection-cameraCorona Wire - DroneWatcher App
https://www.thecoronawire.com/is-there-an-app-that-detects-drones-2021/
- - -
Anti-Air in General
Defeating the Cost Curve in Ukraine - Oct. 25, 2022 - NASAMS - ADA - C-RAM - MANPADS
Ukraine requests Centurion C-RAM from the US – would it be enough to counter drones? - Nov. 11, 2022
The U.S. Navy’s Last Line of Defense: The Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) - Feb. 2, 2024
RheinMetall - Air Defense Systems
EUROSAM GIE - "EUROSAM is the leading French-Italian Joint Venture in Europe that designs, produces, sells, exports and maintains, long range ground and naval based air defense systems."
- - -
European Capabilities
Europe’s defence industry has a number of champions in the field of anti-aircraft missiles. First and foremost is MBDA, a joint subsidiary of Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%) and Leonardo (25%), resulting from the merger of Matra BAe Dynamics, Aerospatiale Matra Missiles and Alenia Marconi Systems.
After winning a large contract from France and Italy for missiles of the Aster family signed at the end of the year (approximately EUR 2 Bn), MBDA signed for the supply of CAMM medium-range missiles to Poland. The European missile builder has already secured more orders amounting to EUR 4 Bn in four months.
Thales produces high-quality radars and Command and Control (C2) capabilities for air defence systems, in addition to well-known missiles such as StarStreak and LMM. Germany has the support of Diehl, which produces the IRIS-T missile and its land-based version, in both short- and medium-range variants.
Added to this, in April 2022, Diehl and Hensoldt decided to intensify their cooperation. Swedish manufacturer Saab produces the RBS70, which includes its NG version. The company also offers radar such as the Giraffe 1X multi-mission 3D. In partnership with Raytheon, Norway’s Kongsberg has been developing the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) whose model 3 is already fully operational.
Lower Layers of Air Defense
The return of the threat of so-called high-intensity conflicts has revived very short-range air defence (VSHORAD) programmes, a good example of which is the Skyranger 30, produced by Germany’s Rheinmetall Air Defence. Denmark announced on 16 May 2023 that they had selected this piece of equipment.
The turret is equipped with a radar, infrared sensors, and a laser rangefinder. The armament is an Oerlikon KCE 30 × 173 mm automatic cannon that fires Advanced Hit Efficiency and Destruction (AHEAD) air bursting munitions, each of which releases 160 tungsten projectiles. The 1,200 rpm gun is extremely precise, allowing it to engage small aerial targets such as drones.
The Thales rapid fire cannon is also a solution to counter armed drones and loitering ammunition. The system results from a Thales partnership with Nexter. Its 40 mm Case Telescoped Armament (CTA) cannon has the compactness of a 25 mm cannon and provides heavy firepower up to 4,000 m, with a reduced logistics footprint compared to a conventional cannon of the same calibre.
- - -