Washington: Swedish defence firm Saab is stepping further in the realm of counter-drone capabilities with a new c-UAS training system, unveiled in Orlando.
The new trainer is designed to connect to Saab’s existing EXCON live tactical training system and involves putting a multiple integrated laser engagement system (MILES)-type sensor array on a UAV so that it can simulate attacking and being attacked during training.
“Designed to replicate aerial threats from opposing forces, the Saab UAV trainer, utilising an ‘off-the-shelf’ UAV platform, can be engaged and defeated whilst capturing troop activity on video and is able to drop ‘virtual munitions’ on soldiers on the ground,” the company said in a press release this week.
What is accomplished for very little expense is a system “that can train soldiers in techniques of shooting down UAVs,” Saab spokesperson Magnus Palmer said. “This anti-drone module is an add-on to the base training system. We accomplish it by putting this laser sensor and targeting package on to a commercial UAV. This is now become a very critical functionality for training infantrymen — thanks to what has been happening in Ukraine.”
There, Palmer is referencing the expansive use of small drones both by Ukrainian and Russian forces — a fast-moving evolution of tactics that has caused no small amount of alarm for international militaries who are now racing to find ways to counter the relatively cheap, flying robotic scouts and munitions. The US military, for instance, has held several exercises for industry to demonstrate ways to take out the aerial threats.
Saab’s system appears to be designed to train soldiers to directly engage threats, what can be a tricky endeavour for frontline soldiers going against high-speed systems, as CNN reported.
Electronic warfare has emerged as a potent option, at least for the time being.
In recent Russian drone attacks, dozens of Iranian-designed Shahed and other attack drones used by Russia reportedly have been jammed or spoofed so that they turn around and either return to base or head off course for the neighbouring nation of Belarus.
Jamming refers to severing the drones connection to its pilot, whereas spoofing involves feeding the drone incorrect location data so it goes off course.
“In some situations where there is a live operator controlling the drone, we have been able to not only cause the Russian drone to return to base or veer off course into Belarus, but to crash into the site where the operator who launched it is located,” one company representative said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
That, too, is a cat-and-mouse game as Russian forces have learned to dodge electronic warfare attacks by using different frequencies, and then Ukrainian forces have adapted to those changes to target the drones once again. The same process takes place in reverse for Russian forces.
But it’s possible electronic warfare systems will grow so sophisticated that it will be impossible for drones to be flown remotely.
“If this trend continues, Putin’s troops will be unable to depend on these UAVs to terrorise the Ukrainian front lines,” said the director of one of Ukraine’s leading night vision and infantry weapons firms. “The great terror that Ukraine troops at the front have been suffering under could be coming to an end before too long.”
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