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| Science & Technology |
| Brits (yet again) Claim to have HERF guns to knock down drones . . . Le sigh |
| 2025-04-30 |
| [TheRegister] British soldiers have successfully taken down drones with a radio-wave weapon. The demonstrator weapon, a type of Radiofrequency Directed Energy Weapon (RF DEW), uses high-frequency radio waves to disrupt the electronic components inside drones, resulting in the devices malfunctioning. "RF DEW systems can defeat airborne targets at ranges of up to 1 km and are effective against threats which cannot be jammed using electronic warfare," the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said. However, the nature of the technology means that a wide beam is used, which is effective at disabling multiple drones simultaneously, but lacks target discrimination. Hence, Sgt Mayers, the first British soldier to bring down drones using a radiofrequency weapon, described it as "a great asset to Layered Air Defence." The MOD believes the system, which it estimates costs 10p per shot fired, "could provide a cost-effective complement to traditional missile-based air defence systems." That's assuming further development takes place to increase both range and power. The UK government has invested £40 million in RF DEW research to date, and more will be needed to move the weapon beyond a demonstrator to something that could be deployed operationally. |
| Posted by:Clem+Elmish4239 |
| #2 Good for frying small, cheap (relatively) drones at close range -- too small and too disposable to really harden against directed energy weapons. |
| Posted by: magpie 2025-04-30 21:30 |
| #1 High Energy Radio Frequency gun |
| Posted by: mossomo 2025-04-30 12:52 |