USAF microwave energy weapon against drone swarms
 

The Air Force used microwave energy to take down a drone swarm (msn.com)

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THOR stands for Tactical High-power Operational Responder.© Adrian Lucero / US Air ForceIn the desert plain south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and just north of the Isleta Pueblo reservation, the Air Force defeated a swarm of drones with THOR, a powerful microwave weapon. THOR, or the Tactical High-power Operational Responder, is designed to defend against drone swarms, frying electronics at scale in a way that could protect against many flying robots at once.



THOR has been in the works for years, with a successful demonstration in February 2021 at Kirtland Air Force Base, south of Albuquerque. From 2021 to 2022, THOR was also tested overseas.

This latest demonstration, which took place on April 5, saw the microwave face off against a swarm of multiple flying uncrewed aerial vehicles. The event took place at the Chestnut Range, short for "Conventional High Explosives & Simulation Test," which has long been used by the Air Force Research Lab for testing.

“The THOR team flew numerous drones at the THOR system to simulate a real-world swarm attack,” said Adrian Lucero, THOR program manager at AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate, in a release earlier this month. “THOR has never been tested against these types of drones before, but this did not stop the system from dropping the targets out of the sky with its non-kinetic, speed-of-light High-Power Microwave, or HPM pulses,” he said.

Crucial to THOR’s concept and operation is that the weapon disables and defeats drones without employing explosive or concussive power, the kind derived from rockets, missiles, bombs, and bullets. The military lumps these technologies together as “kinetics,” and they make up the bread and butter of how the military uses force. Against drones, which can cost mere hundreds or even thousands of dollars per vehicle, missiles represent an expensive form of ammunition. While the bullets used in existing counter-rocket weapons are much cheaper than missiles, they still create the problem of dangerous debris everywhere they don’t hit. Using microwaves means that only the damaged drone itself becomes a falling danger, without an added risk from the tools used to shoot it down.

“THOR was extremely efficient with a near continuous firing of the system during the swarm engagement,” Capt. Tylar Hanson, THOR deputy program manager, said in a release. “It is an early demonstrator, and we are confident we can take this same technology and make it more effective to protect our personnel around the world.”

The THOR system fits into a broader package of directed energy countermeasures being used to take on small, cheap, and effective drones. Another directed energy weapon explored for this purpose is lasers, which can burn through a drone’s hull and circuitry, but that approach takes time to hold focus on and melt a target.

“The system uses high power microwaves to cause a counter electronic effect. A target is identified, the silent weapon discharges in a nanosecond and the impact is instantaneous,” reads an Air Force fact sheet about the weapon. In a , THOR is described as a “low cost per shot, speed of light solution,” which uses “a focused beam of energy to defeat drones at a large target area.”

An April 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office is much more straightforward: A High Power Microwave uses “energy to affect electronics by overwhelming critical components intended to carry electrical currents such as circuit boards, power systems, or sensors. HPM systems engage targets over an area within its wider beam and can penetrate solid objects.”

Against commercial or cheaply produced drones, the kind most likely to see use on the battlefield in great numbers today, microwaves may prove to be especially effective. While THOR is still a ways from development into a fieldable weapon, the use of low-cost drones on the battlefield has expanded tremendously since the system started development. A report from RUSI, a British think tank, found that in its fight against Russia’s invasion, “Ukrainian UAV losses remain at approximately 10,000 per month.”

While that illustrates the limits of existing drone models, it also highlights the scale of drones seeing use in regular warfare. As drone technology improves, and militaries move from adapting commercial drones to dedicated military models made close to commercial cost and scale, countering those drones en masse will likely be a greater priority for militaries. In that, weapons like THOR offer an alternative to existing countermeasures, one that promises greater effects at scale.



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Looks impressive. The video says ‘at long range’ but any idea what ‘long’ means?

I’m sure someone will along any second with the answer to that question…not.

Important addition to an inventory that can address a very real low-tech threat

Agreed, but the friend or foe feature could be interesting.

Microwave could defeat/degrade a lot of different weapon systems, depending on the range. Will be very interesting to see what more information comes to light.

You mean like ones you actually need to use for yourselves.

I'd be interested to know its effect, and mitigations, on people (representing either belligerent) and animals.

And on Greggs sausage rolls, obviously.

There's not much more you can do to them.

What size power supply does it need?

And of course it may work well in the clear air of the W USA but in thick clag in NW Europe???

A56,at least you can have hot pies for lunch....

They just need to pump out a rock track on all frequencies, I saw that used to effect in Star Trek, it totally destroyed the swarm..

Are you sure that wasn’t Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy?

You are all missing the real purpose of this thing...........

It is a modern hi-tech solution to make a MRE more palatable.

what happens if they sneak a drone round the back?

It's actually a receiver as well, so new age soldiers can get a decent mobile phone signal on the battlefield.

I wouldn't give a lot for any human or other animal that happens to be in the line of fire of this THOR thing. High intensity microwave can fry your brain quite effectively. But no doubt USAF would shrug – “collateral damage” – so long as it’s not their own family or friends who are being fried.

I doubt it would penetrate a NAAFI pork pie though.

Or a N Korean General's Uniform

One of the original cluster-submunitions. NAAFI is not a signatory to the Oslo Declaration.

This is like saying "Look this cannon will defeat a cavalry charge!"

And it did, but then we stopped doing cavalry charges and started to wear camouflage and sneak up on people, do air drops behind enemy lines, use small raiding parties etc

And looking at the pic, what if the drone is fairly high, because it doesn't look like that dish can point up at much of an angle

:rolleyes:


Here's the British version - did well in trials too, but difficult to deploy

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Sept_2015.jpg



Mind you, I think they should be installed in the high street and zap anyone driving past playing really loud music (why do they always (i) have their windows open and (ii) play **** music?)