Raytheon will design, build and test two high-power microwave antenna systems that will use directed energy to defeat airborne threats at the speed of light.
The systems are designed to be rugged and transportable for front-line deployment.
Under the three-year, $31.3 million contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Raytheon will deliver prototype systems to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force as part of the Directed Energy Front-line Electromagnetic Neutralization and Defeat (DEFEND) program.
“Non-kinetic defense systems are a key part of America’s national defense strategy,” said Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon.
“The new iterations of Raytheon’s high-power microwave systems are cost-effective and reliable solutions that operate at the speed of light – enabling our warfighters to defend against faster and more maneuverable threats.”
Work on this contract is being conducted in Tucson, Arizona in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Prototypes are expected to be delivered in fiscal years 2024 and 2026.
The USN updated FFG-51 have a large and hideous new EW system. I wonder if they have that capability.
The burkes sure have been hitting the buffet.
It’s perhaps one of the ugliest upgrades but as we get told it’s what’s on the inside that matters. Close competition with those swing out sea sparrow launchers on Canadian destroyers
MAZERS.
But will it go “Ping” ?
Chinese weather balloons are in for a… shock.
Deploy that system, unlikely, and Ukraine would achieve a tipping point in drone warfare.
And given the Ukrainian propensity to innovate – who ever thought of shooting down planes with patriots? – this weapon could be used to fry Russian avionics on their jets if deliverable at range.
It’s not even built though, or tested.
I’m glass half full guy 😉
You need a refill !!!! 😂….. Seriously though, it will be interesting to see how this pans out…… Drones certainly have come of age.
Give me a break Frank, it is Christmas!
Dr Frank Ledgewidge on Times Radio – sombre listening; NATO countries must step up and he mentioned the circa 300 USMC Abrams in storage that could create a UKR tank army… if gassed properly.
Ukraine is our front line and we need to support it in full.
I think they are Multi Fuel powered…. having 300 trained crew might take some time though….
And that point should become a major learning point for the West.
This conflict did not start yesterday, it started in 2014 – do you think several years would have been enough to train a Division?
This is just not attritional warfare, in truth, it must become regime change and the deletion of one Putin. Simples.
Yup I’ve been saying this for years….”We” tend to react seriously only when it’s a fore gone conclusion…. To be honest, before the obvious was properly Recognised in the mid 1930’s only a few forward thinking people seemed to realise what might lay ahead…. RJ Mitchell , Sydney Camm and Winnie saved this Country from an otherwise catastrophic invasion…… You need the tools to be able to defend and overcome adversity….. Meanwhile we are down to perhaps 130 possible Airworthy Fighters, 9 Frigates, 4 at most Destroyers and sadly probably maybe only 3 SSN’s….. This is after 10 years of… Read more »
Various threads depicting the uptick in conflicts across the globe and I wonder whether it is existential fight now engaged between Democracy and authoritarian regimes.
I’m off for some tinfoil, do you need any?
Nope mate…. I’ve been Prepping now for years mate….. Got a huge store of Bog Roll and enough stores to last about a year in my Bunker…… It’s always good to think about the future…..
Rearmament actually started in 1934 with an increase in the size and modernisation of the RAF. Stanley Baldwin was reviled by Churchill but the truth is he went through an epiphany moment in 1933 and started the build up after the General Election. Part of that was the programme for building Shadow Factories.
He also did us one huge favour as he effectively got rid of Edward VIII, who would never have agreed to war with Germany.
After he left office he actually foretold that war would come and Churchill was the best choice for Wartime PM.
Yes, Mid 30’s, and the Spitfire and Hurricane were the result of this. Churchill was the right man for the job…. shame it’s all gone downhill since.
I agree we need to pull out the stops. Putin is building a full on wartime economy and we need to respond adequately. The only sign of this is the development of the Tempest and the national ship building scheme but it needs to go further faster.
If either side finds an effective jamming system for drones it would for sure change the landscape of the war, probably back to mechanised charges. On lots of footage from ukraine you can see EW measuring impacting the signal (picture break up as they get close, battery warnings etc), so work is underway, just appears not to be fully effective yet.
I’ve noticed several ‘low battery’ warnings and wondered about them. Good point.
It might be a coincidence but they appear to pop up at the same time the drone gets near its target and the same time a lot of interference appears on the image like an old vhs tape.
Do we have any EW SMEs on this site?
Nope…. They have all been Jammed !!!! 😂
Strawberry or apricot?
Well if in Devon, It would be Strawberry….. but only after the Scones have been Creamed first….
Bloomin wannabe Cornishman, try learning to do it properly first, jam then cream! Heathens everywhere these days.
You know, in South Cumberland, they are off comers… had to walk from Hest Bank over the Sands to Ulverston, that’s why we is pure bred and likes our sheep reet proper close an all on a dark, cold, winters night.
You Cornish carrot a tattie pasty eating cornips no nowt about pure blood…
A fine part of the country Good Food, walking, bird watching and diving at Capernwray. I was actually in Hest Bank last month as I was up there for my Birthday, “The Crossing” is a superb Micropub 😉
But isn’t it in Lancashire ?
Hest Bank is Lancashire, Ulverston WAS Lancashire, now it is, f£ck knows, Westmorland and Furness or some such with Barrow in Furness and Millom having a certain Michelle Scrogham standing as Labour Candidate. The same M Scrogham who got me banned from the CLP because she didn’t know the difference between an SSN “There’s always one on patrol,” M Scrogham and an SSBN. “My husband works in the shipyard and he doesn’t know the difference.” M. Scrogham and denied ever saying such and accussed me of bullying her for pointing out the difference. AND then stated she never said anything.… Read more »
Chill go and have a beer 🍺 Thing about Politicians is the nasty ones always come a cropper.
Never ever tell a Cornishman that carrot belongs in a Pasty…. It’s Beef skirt, potato, onion and Swede/Turnip (Swedish Turnip-“swede”).
Yeah Blooming cheek us Devonians doing it this way to our Devon cream Tea !!! Would you like us to tell you how to make a Pasty ? 😂
So long as it’s not like one of those so called Ulster Pasties”!
Yes
You’re serving, emcon zero.
5 by 5
There is one I suspect, who mentions EW often, in a limited way.
Will remain nameless.
This is likely white noise jamming, i.e. transmitting on the same frequency as the drone uses. However, the jammer antenna seen on Ukrainian tanks are omni-directional (transmit in all directions). So the jammer’s output power is averaged out. Which means the effective power targeting the drone is a lot less. However, there is no easy solution to this apart from ramping up the transmitter power. The reason is how does the tank for example, detect the drone in the first place? If the drone is smaller than a Lancet, the bod with their head out of the hatch, scanning for… Read more »
I suspect it’s more advanced than white noise, as that alone wouldn’t cause all sorts of error messages being shown or at least you wouldn’t expect white noise to do so.
Initially, I doubt it’s more than white noise. If the drone’s signal is encrypted, it can provide a modicum of anti-jamming capability. But if the jammer has the power, it can basically wall off any transmissions from the controller. If Ukraine has captured some relatively intact Russian drones. Then not only can they work out the operating frequency, but also the operating code. So they may be able hack the drone as well. Most modern drones have a return to sender mode. Where a drone that has lost contact with the controller back tracks along its path to a point… Read more »
This is not remotely close to white noise jamming which would be disappointing to be honest as even though is still affective is considered old tech by today’s standard. This is actually a microwave weapon which physically fries the electronics on a targeted device. This US is investing heavily in this tech (look up the Leonidas system which is a counter drone weapon that is currently undergoing operational testing). There are also rumors going back over a decade of a classified cruise missile armed with a microwave weapon that fries the electronics of an adversary’s system over a large area.
The initial point I was making was the use of vehicle based RF jammers and their effects on drones. Both sides are using commercial quad-copter drones to attack both personnel and vehicles. Either by dropping munitions on the targets or by performing a suicide attack and the drone is carrying impact fused plastic explosive. These drones operate on a number of standardized frequency bands. Such as 2.400–2.483 GHz and 5.725–5.825 GHz. A white noise signal transmitted at these frequencies will have an effect on these types of drones. As they don’t normally use encryption plus they have a very narrow… Read more »
Turkey have just flown the ANKA111, It’s quite interesting, 10 hour range, bombs and missiles, @500mph and I guess some half decent jamming tech.
One thing is for sure RR MT30 sales should go up 😉 They are way better at generating electric power than any other Marine GT set.
It seems India is about to be a customer, as they are having issues with the Russian / Ukrainian supply chain and the GE 2500 just don’t have the development potential.
We need to be really careful with India, there is a chance that any technology sold to India will rapidly end up in the hands of Russia or China
India has just signed a defence co-operation agreement with Russia not 10 hours ago.
Lavrov and Jaishankar signed the deal in Moscow!
Be aware, this is not a good development- either India is going to play the West and Russia off against each other for their advantage or they are about to go all in with Russia and possibly China to develop an axis that can compete with NATO
India is for India and yet free trade is tying India into the Western orbit. Indians are beginning to exhibit their wealth and freedom and it would be a very reckless Government that endangered those things.
So, the Indian Govt sees Russian oil as a freebie to placate their citizens but, embrace China? Never. Research the Himalayas.
Don’t underestimate the influence of BRICS. ‘Himalayas’ in bigger scheme of things is ‘Gibraltar’ on steroids
Yes but just because you know how to make something doesn’t mean you can. China has taken decades to try and build Russian engines to a decent level and still has issues. Russia is in a complete mess and has been since 2014. Their supply chain was basically still based in the USSR and relied heavily on Ukraine for Aero and Marine applications. So they are now struggling to produce anything for themselves and export. Which is why India has recently been using Local license built US GE LM2500+ in their Frigates and IAC 1. But long term they need… Read more »
Dangerous times indeed! I see India and Russia have just signed a joint decree for joint co-operation on a strategic level to develop platforms and munitions together in order to diversify India and Russia’s forces and military- industrial base. Lavrov and Jaishankar signed the joint decree just 10 hrs ago. So I think India will play the West and Russia/ China off against each other seeking leverage and business opportunities from both. If India goes further and joins some formal pact with Russia/China then NATO is really going to be up against it. That would be a doomsday scenario, as… Read more »
India is fence sitting, but they have also just sent their 3 most modern DDG’s to the Red Sea to deter and defend shipping from Houthi or Iranian missiles.
I’d disagree with. India have chosen India, there is no fence and having watched China become, militarily a pariah state, have chosen a smart path of non-alignment without confrontation.
He’s not my cup of tea, however, India is modernising and while poverty levels are high, they are on a reset.
Beyond our lifetimes, India will be a force and the UN Security Council will see a reset wrt permanent members with veto powers.
nice acronym…DEFEND