> "Those tests, however, showed some limitations when integrating Raytheon's system with other military technologies and battlefield tactics and protocols, Hammett said. Raytheon has since invested more resources to further develop its system, which could still be deployed in the future by the military. "<p>Is this an indirect way of saying, "It'll disable our stuff too."?
What makes this a specifically anti drone technology? Surely the electronic warfare community has been able to do directed EM pulses for long time, what stops it from being a generalized anti aircraft tool?
Anti-drone guns exist. What is the difference?
<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2079045/chinese-police-force-equipped-anti-drone-guns" rel="nofollow">https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2079045/chin...</a>
I wonder how practical this actually is... There is of course almost no technical details provided but based on the dish this likely doesn't have more than a 30 degree beam width (and likely a smaller effective beam width).<p>It's impossible to tell from this video but the drone may need to stay in the beam for a certain amount of time before it gets taken out. I'm guessing this is more of a "we're heating the electronics beyond their operational capacity" than "we're inducing surges in the traces and overloading circuitry" kind of killing.<p>The video in that story shows it moving and it's not fast... Even a $50 toy drone can really cruise. So I'd question it's ability to track a moving target much less take out a swarm of them.
Eventually we will see an air superiority war play out with drones the same way it did with fighter jets, although the drones are going to do far more insane maneuvers. The "Top Gun" dogfight scene for this era will be amazing.
This system can be of good help in Gatwick like situations [1].<p>[1] <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-sussex-46564814/page/18" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-sussex-46564814/p...</a>
No mention of power output anywhere I can find, so I guess that's classified?<p>It must be stupid high if they don't think "Oh, I guess we have to shield our electronics now..." is going to be a valid countermeasure.
No mention of range, seems pretty easy for drones just to use altitude. The drones could come in at 10,000 feet and drop whatever they came to deliver.
Url changed from <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18701267/us-air-force-thor-new-weapon-drone-swarms" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18701267/us-air-force-tho...</a>, which points to, and quotes from, this.