Brit soldiers tune radio waves to fry drone swarms for pennies – Source: go.theregister.com

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.

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In imagery provided by the MOD, the weapon appears to fit on the back of a flatbed truck. The US has a similar device in the form of the Tactical High-power Operational Responder (THOR), which is a six-meter, container-sized system requiring a few hours to set up. THOR was demonstrated against swarms of drones on April 5, 2023, at the Chestnut Test Site, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

According to the MOD, more than 100 drones were tracked, engaged, and defeated by the weapon during the trials, one of which included two swarms of the devices in a single engagement.

UK Defence Intelligence reports that more than 18,000 drones were used to attack Ukraine last year.

The British Army is no stranger to destroying drones without missiles. In 2024, as part of a demonstration, a high-energy laser weapon was mounted on an armored vehicle and used to destroy drones in flight.

That weapon worked by directing an intense beam of infrared light toward the target. However, the radio waves emitted by RF DEW systems can disrupt the systems of multiple targets at once. ®