The American company Aurora showed a multicopter to fight other drones. The MIDAS device is paired with a ground-based portable radar and is able to shoot down small multicopters using a grid without operator intervention. The information is available on the company's website.
Measures to counter small UAVs are needed for a variety of reasons: amateur drones can accidentally fly into a restricted air zone, interfere with fire extinguishing from the air, they can be used by intruders to transfer contraband to prisons and across the border, as well as for industrial espionage . There are also more threatening scenarios: terrorists make bombers out of multicopters, and Mexican cartels use kamikaze drones.
To combat small drones, a variety of methods are used, from jamming the control radio channel or GPS signal to physically affecting the aircraft. The latter involves the physical destruction of the drone using firearms, lasers or sources of directed microwave radiation, shooting nets, catching drones using nets on other UAVs, and even using trained birds of prey. Read more about the methods of combating drones in our article "Buzz me here ."
Engineers from Aurora Flight Sciences demonstrated the MIDAS quadrocopter, which is designed to protect the territory from other drones. The device, without the participation of the operator, patrols the security zone under the control of the on-board computer. To search for targets, MIDAS uses its own optical sensors and a ground-based portable radar. Having found the target in the security zone, the quadcopter approaches and knocks down the intruder with a shot of an entangling projectile from an air gun.
It is noteworthy that the drone aims the reticule at the target with the help of propellers on rotary mechanisms, which allow the device to change the position of the frame in space, hovering in place. The company claims that it is possible to install other payloads on MIDAS in addition to the grid meter.
Similar developments are being created in Russia. Earlier this year, the concern of East Kazakhstan Region "Almaz-Antey" conducted tests of the upgraded UAV-interceptor "Wolf-18". This quadcopter is armed with three reticule guns, and when the ammunition is used up, it is able to ram the intruder's drone.
Dmitry Loginov
