Patent Application
20170122713
None.
This invention is related to battlefield weapons systems and the threat posed by small UAVs (Drones).
The low cost and ready availability of simple remote-piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) presents the enemy with an efficient means to achieve battlefield tactical reconnaissance and strike capabilities that would have been unheard of ten years ago.
In an asymmetric threat scenario, simple, low-cost aircraft remote piloted aircraft (whether directly purchased from hobbyist suppliers, or manufactured along similar lines) can be modified with relative ease to include video downlink and to deliver:
Under a symmetric threat scenario, all of the above-mentioned capabilities are presented, together with:
The small RPAS carries with it the possibility to inflict significant damage, while being difficult to counter. The effective target size may well be as little as 0.01 m2, that is to say 50 times harder to hit than a person, as well as moving fast and changing direction. Even in for a well-armed and fully supported engagement team, none of the weapons available to the infantryman or rifleman (rifle rounds, hand grenades, RPGs, machine guns, mortar, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery or airstrikes) are effective against this threat.
The laser-powered weaponry that is currently in trials and early deployment is expensive and not readily mobile. Truck-mounted systems are not compatible with modern mobile warfare. The need is to create an effective weapon system that can be accessible to every infantryman and practically deployable at the squad or platoon level. In short, the wish list is:
Prior art includes various drone-against-drone systems. Patent U.S. Pat. No. 9,085,362 B1 describes a system for deploying a net from one drone, to entangle another. Also under trials are systems that track the target and provide automatic guidance of a steerable 50 mm projectile to attack a drone. These systems all share the disadvantage that they are not readily deployable among small mobile, combat units on the battlefield.
Prior art also extends to shotguns. These provide the spread needed to engage a small target but lack effective range.
It is an object of this invention to provide foot soldiers with a practical means to counter the threat posed by drones.
It is an object of this invention to provide a drone countermeasure system that is compatible with, and extends the capabilities of, existing equipment that is carried by foot soldiers.
It is an object of this invention to provide a drone countermeasure system that is inexpensive compared to the current alternatives.
It is an object of this invention to provide a drone countermeasure that is effective over a range of many hundreds of meters.
It is an object of this invention to provide foot soldiers with a drone countermeasure system that can be carried in back backs without undue additional weight.
It is an object of this invention to provide a drone countermeasure system that can function effectively against a multitude of other targets.
It is an object of this invention to provide a drone countermeasure system that incorporates safety and arming features that protect the soldiers on the battlefield that use the system and mitigates the hazards presented by unexploded ordnance.
Modified .50 caliber rounds fired from a standard M2 machine gun set up a “flak” field that will counter small RPAS. The weapon is aimed manually, and the round is provided with automated detonation timing so as to create a fragment field at the correct range on target. The gunner “walks” the explosion bursts onto the target in a similar manner to the use of tracer rounds, but with the bursts giving a clear indication of the point where the arc of fire intersects the plane defined by the range of the target.
With reference to
The machine gun is a fifty-caliber type, and the rounds are arranged so that every fourth round is a fragmentation type, the others being conventional.
The rounds are fused in part by the timer programming from the coil 5. Until the round has passed through the coil 5, it will be safe and unable to explode prematurely.
The critical event is to cause the round to disintegrate as it approaches the target at close range. Assuming a round with mass 1,800 grains splits into 100-200 fragments, the individual pieces will then have 9-18 grain mass (about one-sixth to one-third that of a 0.22 caliber round) and be traveling at perhaps 1,600 ft./s as they meet the target. Assuming a target size of 0.1×0.1 m, a fragment field spread of 1 m=1 m would give an expected rate of 1-2 hits per round on target.
A single splinter of this size and velocity will be lethal when impacting within the vulnerable target area of the drone. The drone specifically considered in this scenario is low-cost and will not be carrying armor plate. The likely penetration requirement will be 2 mm of ABS plastic and/or 1 mm aluminum, to fatally damage control electronics, fan blades, electric motors, batteries and airframe components.
The fragmentation of the round ideally should occur some meters in advance of impacting the target. Most of the fragment kinetic energy is derived from the velocity of the round as it approaches the target. The size of fragmentation charge is kept small—ideally low 100 feet per second.
A major advantage of the system, compared with a shotgun, is that the effective range can be many hundreds of meters.
Alternatively, also with reference to
A further variation in fragmentation control time is depicted in
Instead of using radio communications, though, a laser link 8 provides two-way communication with the round to determine range at the moment of fragmentation or to directly command the fragmentation event.
