Heli

There is no shortage of innovative ways to shoot down drones. Some companies are pitching lasers, others prefer radio-frequency disruption or, if you prefer explosions, the U.S. Army has tested Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and fired course-corrected projectiles with forward-blast fragmentation warheads from a 50-mm Bushmaster cannon. But could a whole swarm be destroyed electronically with a 1-millisec. zap? The answer may lie with the Phaser system, designed and developed by Raytheon’s Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Ktech group, the same team that worked with Boeing to produce the “CHAMP” counter-electronics cruise missile for the Air Force. High-Power Microwave Knockout Ground-based HPM weapon promises to clear the skies of drones and other electronically guided devices Raytheon’s Phaser weapon performed a live-fire demo Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2013, at Fort Still, Oklahoma—video below was just cleared by Pentagon Phaser was used to bring down Tier I Flanker and Tier II Tempest drones There was a time when radio-controlled drones were mostly in the hands of militaries and model-aircraft hobbyists, but now anybody, including terrorists, can purchase relatively sophisticated and inexpensive unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) online. Although UAS were once feared for their spying potential, there have been several accounts of self-proclaimed Islamic State group militants in Iraq and Syria using them as flying improvised explosive devices. Finding agile, inexpensive way to destroy these threats has become a priority for the Pentagon in recent years, and in response, Raytheon has turned its high-power microwave (HPM) technology skyward. On Sept. 10, the company provided Aviation Week with footage of its deployable, ground-based Phaser knocking out two small drones during a 2013 experiment at the Army Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Defense Department cleared the video footage of the live-fire demonstration for public release on Oct. 5, but some details such as its effective range remain classified. The technology is not known to have been fielded operationally, although several initiatives are underway to transition the technology to programs of record. Raytheon lifted the veil on its Fort Still experiment during a media roundtable in Washington in June, saying the trailer-mounted device is effective against drone swarms over a wide area, has been proven to stop cars and vehicles and could even throw off missiles guided by electronics. Unlike lasers, these types of HPM weapons can disrupt or destroy electronic devices across a wide area. Fort Sill is home to the Army Field Artillery School and is leading the development of directed-energy doctrine for the service. It conducted a live-fire investigation of the Raytheon-built weapon from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, using it to bring down a Tier I Flanker and Tier II Tempest drone. The HPM weapon is mounted on a 20-ft. trailer with power provided by an internal diesel generator. The Phaser system can detect and track threats using its own radar or be cued by third-party sensors. The device’s parameters can be set to “disrupt” or “damage.” In this demonstration, the Flanker and Tempest drones were detected, tracked and cued for destruction by a three-dimensional X-band Thales/Raytheon MPQ-64 Sentinel radar and vehicle-mounted Ku-band Close Combat Tactical Radar, with Raytheon’s radio-linked Command View-Tactical system providing command and control. “The objectives of this investigation were to engage real targets with a deployable directed-energy system, attack more than one type of threat, engage multiple threats simultaneously and kill these threats at operational ranges,” the video’s narrator says. “The Phaser system engaged and shot down two types of UAS targets. Both engagements took place at the speed of light, and target kill confirmation was immediate.” Raytheon’s Phaser weapon can destroy whole swarms of drones with a single burst of microwave energy. Credit: U.S. Army In June, Raytheon’s Albuquerque site director, Steve Downie, said the Phaser demonstrated multiple kills in a single shot over the target area, as opposed to a laser, which must narrow in on a single point until the air vehicle is burned out of the sky. Anything that flies through the HPM’s beam will be destroyed, he says. Because the HPM weapons do not discriminate between friendly or enemy electronics, extra care must be taken to avoid wrecking your own systems. But the technology shows promise for fixed-base protection or to destroy airborne threats on the move as part of a convoy. Raytheon says it has already halved the size of the Phaser payload since the experiment in 2013, believes it can deliver an operational system with 18 months of a contract award and could build 5-10 units per year at its Albuquerque site. “The effect from a high-power microwave is not instantaneous but certainly within milliseconds,” Downie says. “A laser is typically going to focus on a target for seconds to kill it. If you’re addressing a swarm, an HPM is going to put out a field and anything that flies through that field is going to go down. Once you’re invested in the cost of the system, it costs cents per firing. It is negligible compared to a missile. This technology really does exist.” The Air Force was among the first to build an operational microwave weapon, the non-lethal, vehicle-mounted Active Denial System or “Pain Ray” that was deployed to Afghanistan to disperse crowds or force people to drop their weapons by causing a burning sensation under their skin. In 2012, Boeing and Raytheon successfully flight-demonstrated their cruise-missile-based HPM weapon under the Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project, or CHAMP, experiment, launching one from a B-52H bomber to destroy electronics at the Utah Test and Training Range. Three of those weapons were built, and Raytheon has been put on contract to refurbish two unexpended rounds as test and training assets. Meanwhile, the Air Force and Navy are now embarking on another demonstration effort, led by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s directed-energy division at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico. That program, dubbed High-power Joint Electromagnetic Non-Kinetic Strike or HiJENKS, will probably explore a more operationally relevant version of the CHAMP weapon based on a modern cruise missile instead of the outdated AGM-86C Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile, with flight testing expected around 2018-19, based on available funding. Directed-energy proponent Mark Gunzinger, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, says the government needs to do a better job transitioning successful experiments into operational weapons systems. Examples of missed opportunities include CHAMP and the Boeing X-51 WaveRider, a hypersonic missile prototype. He has called on the incoming Trump administration to more quickly move directed-energy and electronic-warfare systems from the laboratory into programs of record, particularly for defending U.S. forces and bases from air and missile threats.* “The new administration needs to begin to transition new, mature technologies to acquisition programs rather than continue to fund a seemingly endless series of experiments and demonstrations,” Gunzinger tells Aviation Week. http://www.w54.biz/showthread.php?16-UAV-s-UCAV-s-and-other-such-matters&p=68720&viewfull=1#post68720

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3633361/Surgeons-pull-live-GRENADE-soldier-s-face-hospital-car-park-case-explodes-surgery-military-accident-Colombia.html

VR experience

Israeli Apaches modified to use Spike http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4876811,00.html

The Israeli Ministry of Defence Directorate of Production and Procurement will purchase hundreds of Rafael's TROPHY systems, worth hundreds of millions of shekels. The procurement of these additional systems will ensure that every MERKAVA 4 tank and NAMER APC will be equipped with an active protection system. http://www.monch.com/mpg/news/14-land/254-israeli-mod-purchases-hundreds-of-rafael-trophy.html

Laser-guided 5" (12.7 cm) Paveway projectile developed in the 1970s at Dahlgren Laboratory, Virginia. Laser-guided 8" 8" vs M41

Navy activates first unmanned maritime patrol aircraft squadron to join manned P-8A planes http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/pt/2016/10/navy-activates-first-unmanned-maritime-patrol-aircraft-squadron-to-join-manned-p-8a-planes.html

thanks