IAF lists requirement for suicide drones to neutralise UAV swarms
With hostile swarm drones posing an ever-increasing threat in present-day battlefield, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has sought a “Kamikaze” drone system to protect vital installations against swarms of enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The IAF has projected an initial requirement for 20 such systems.
The term Kamikaze dates back to World War-II when Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives made deliberate suicidal crashes on enemy targets.
The Kamikaze anti-swarm system is designed to counter swarm drones, which may attack vital installations from multiple directions. Once swarm drones are detected, Kamikaze drones with attached explosives can attack them by exploding in their vicinity. A request for information (RFI) for the system was issued by the IAF on January 8.
The system will also be capable of providing “soft-kill” solution, based on jamming of radio frequency links between drones and ground controller and their satellite navigation systems.
Swarm drones are a group of several drones operated simultaneously as a single entity by one controller to meet a specific objective. These drones, according to the RFI, would play a dominant role in future conflicts as these are relatively inexpensive and can be easily manufactured.
The IAF is exploring to induct a vehicle-mounted system capable of operating in all-weather conditions and launching multiple Kamikaze drones. Such a system, as per the IAF, should be capable of autonomously intercepting and exploding in the vicinity of the enemy UAVs that may vary from micro drones weighing less than 250 grams to large drone weighing over 200 kg.
It should provide multi-sensor-based comprehensive solution involving radiofrequency, radar, electro-optic and infrared to enable the controllers detect, track, identify, designate and neutralise several enemy swarms simultaneously.
The armed forces are already using several types of drones for various purposes, some of which have been developed indigenously while others have been sourced from overseas vendors. This includes long-range Kamikaze drones and loiter munitions designed to hit enemy ground targets.
