Anti-drone technologies and tactics

Anti-Drone Warfare at Sea: Matching Sensors and Effectors to the Threat​

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-new...matching-sensors-and-effectors-to-the-threat/
Effective Anti-Drone Warfare demands a complete kill chain – detection, identification, tracking, and hard-kill engagement – with every link matched to the physics and economics of the Tier 2 OWA drone threat. This article examines the technology choices for each link: why only AESA radar meets the detection requirement, what the electro-optic director must deliver, and how the principal effector classes compare against the demands of the ADW mission.
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A German drone-interceptor has set a new unofficial speed record (434MPH) for a battery powered drone:


A German electric drone called the Apex Recordhunter hit 434 mph on battery power alone, a potential world record built with Ukrainian engineering partners Quantum Systems who are now applying those propulsion innovations directly to drone interceptors for Ukraine's air defense stack.​
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Think about it like this: Air defense is all about layers. Before this, interceptor drones lived at the bottom and could only hit Shaheds and slower targets. Faster interceptors, like Apex Recordhunter, open the door to interceptors moving up to the next layer: intercepting some slower cruise missiles. This saves the expensive stuff, like Patriot, for the high-layer threats.​
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Chapters!
00:00 - Fast Cheap Drones as Missile Relief
01:22 - Record Drone Shows New Interceptor Propulsion
03:31 - WIY’s Ukrainian Interceptor Programmes
04:33 - Speed Record Context and Missile Maths
05:09 - Patriot Production Limits vs Drone Costs
06:19 - Cost Gap and Cruise Missile Speeds
07:26 - From Record Speed to Battlefield Interceptors
10:40 - Apex Specs Hidden, Speed Trend Upward
11:48 - Ukraine’s Rapid Tech Adoption & Cost Shift
12:22 - Economic Trade‑off: Missiles vs Cheap Drones
13:57 - New Defensive Layer from Record Drones
14:33 - Closing Remarks and Support for Ukraine
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Btw, interesting to note, that all the go-to ground anti-drone solutions are available from the worst Korea for almost 10 years (and were conceptualized like a decade ago).

And those are still fundamentally better than the current APKWS types introduced on an emergency basis everywhere.
The ironic part is that these were made against some sort of self-fed propaganda leaflet, yet end up being more or less visionary.
 

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An Early Look at the Air Force’s New Counter-Drone Units​

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/early-look-air-force-new-counter-drone-units/
The Air Force has stood up the first rapidly deployable units of Airmen designed to protect air bases in the Pacific or other potential hotspots from aerial attack.

These point defense flights are typically made up of roughly 20 enlisted Airmen with aviation and battle management backgrounds and could protect permanent installations in the United States, but they are specially trained to defend remote airfields, such as those set up for agile combat employment missions, from drone attack.
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Good old vectored interception tactics

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/24/romanian-jet-fighter-shoots-down-suspected-russian-drone

"Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said a radar first detected the drone about 20km (12 miles) east of the Black Sea port of Sulina, before it crossed into national airspace on a path through Braila, Fetesti and Buzau county.

Two Italian Eurofighter Typhoon jets, deployed to Romania under NATO’s air policing mission, were joined by two Romanian F-16s. One F-16 engaged the target with an air-to-air missile, downing it over unpopulated ground near the village of Padina. No casualties or injuries were reported."

https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1v60k6o/second_drone_shot_down_in_less_than_24h_by_same
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1v60k6o/second_drone_shot_down_in_less_than_24h_by_same/
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/2080926130735849555
View: https://x.com/UKArmaments/status/2080926130735849555?s=20

New interceptor missiles successfully tested in the Middle East as Defence Minister visits region​

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...middle-east-as-defence-minister-visits-region

Cambridge Aerospace to Supply Skyhammer Interceptor Missiles to British Forces and Gulf Partners​

https://defenceleaders.com/news/cam...missiles-to-british-forces-and-gulf-partners/

Cambridge Aerospace says Skyhammer turbojet interceptor UAV 70% effective
https://www.janes.com/defence-intel...yhammer-turbojet-interceptor-uav-70-effective
 

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Britain will today announce the transfer of intellectual property rights to allow Ukraine to manufacture the Stone Cloak drone EW system, thousands of the device have already been supplied.

Stone Cloak is the size of a tablet computer and generates a short range electronic cloak around the drone that both drastically hinders detection by anti-drone radar as well as blocking drone jamming signals. Stone Cloak will be directly built in to the upcoming Project Brakestop low cost cruise missile.

https://mezha.net/eng/bukvy/5f60c506_uk_plans_to_transfer/

https://tass.com/world/2165747

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8me5vyjg2o
 
How does that drone work?

Looks like it has a launch booster, then it loafs around on electric props before firing a rocket(?) in the terminal phase?
 
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Empty Shell LLC. Mini gatling. Scale it up to 7.62 and replace the bullet with steel pellets in sequence.
- one tracer, one bullet, 2 pellets, one bullet.
Scale small radar and optic sensor like mini Phalanx
 

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spikedpsycho said:
Empty Shell LLC. Mini gatling. Scale it up to 7.62 and replace the bullet with steel pellets in sequence.
- one tracer, one bullet, 2 pellets, one bullet.
Scale small radar and optic sensor like mini Phalanx
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At 6000rpm, you can get away with about 1 tracer in 10 to 20. And I'd go with the duplex/triplex projectiles instead of direct to pellets. On the grounds that hopefully you can stick a tracer on the back of one of the triplex projectiles and make it a duplex load.
 

Ukraine, NATO launch new funding program to counter Russian drones​

https://breakingdefense.com/2026/07...ew-funding-program-to-counter-russian-drones/
Five areas were listed by Brave1 as of high interest: active protection systems against FPVS; affordable counter-shaded systems; electromagnetic support for signals intelligence; electromagnetic attack technology against FPVs; and high-altitude platforms.
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Experts See Urgent Need to Defend Bases from Drone Attack. Here’s What USAF Is Doing​

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-experts-strategies-defend-bases-drone-attack/

Experts LOL.
 

‘Hammer of the Gods’ new secret weapon upgrades US Army power to blast enemy missile attacks​

https://nypost.com/2026/07/30/us-ne...of-gods-system-that-disrupts-missile-attacks/
The US Army has debuted the “Hammer of the Gods” — a cutting-edge new weapon-disrupting system designed to trick precision-guided enemy projectiles into missing their targets.

The portable electronic system, which can be deployed covertly from US military vessels, blinds the guidance systems of long-range artillery, guided missiles and cruise missiles, rendering them far less effective.
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NMaude said:
A German drone-interceptor has set a new unofficial speed record (434MPH) for a battery powered drone:
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That is friggen 2x of a Sagger and basically a TOW.

People are all wawa about some LMG RWS ending drones FOREVER. It seems just as reasonable for such weapons to shoot down ATGMs if it'd work against drones.

Oh great, man point gun at sky, missile threat ended forever~
 
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I been thinking about drone shoot downs by infantry, and conditions that enable success. From the videos:

Top cover and concealment is almost necessary. It is hard to hit a drone on an attack run, but ambush it while it is searching slowly at low attitude works. One would also imagine obstructions induces many operational drone losses just from the difficulty of flying.

This also explains differential vulnerabilities, where defenders in proper positions can survive months on the very front but would be killed in rotations when they leave cover. It isn't that the battlefield is actually transparent, but moving forces are detected and destroyed, while statics are not.
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In those terms, interceptor drones is probably the best front line defensive AA option because being indirect they don't reveal positions like direct fire.
 
Seragina said:
The Naval Modular Missile (NMM) TSI could be used for this, too. Though,I think range could be bad compared to APKWS without any stage boosted attached.
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That's a bigger/more expensive missile than I had in mind, but it'd work.

Were you thinking drones carrying the TSI as an AAM? I'm not sure it'd be cheaper than APKWS in that case.

For surface launch, I would want a different rocket motor profile than in the standard TSI, though. As you pointed out, range would be bad due to an engine designed around sustained speed more than boosting and coasting. I'd want the rocket for ground-launched TSIs to be quicker burning with higher thrust/mass flow. Otherwise you're kinda screwed with the ground-launched TSI only having 1/3 the range of an air-launched version.
 
German X-wing drones are apparently doing well in Ukrainian service, from Wes O'Donnell:


Real footage from Ukraine now confirms the AI-powered Helsing HX-2, the German X-Wing-shaped strike drone I covered last month, is flying live missions with Ukraine's 59th Separate Assault Brigade, and the terminal-guidance AI works exactly the way Helsing claimed: a human locks the target, the machine takes over in the jamming-vulnerable final seconds.​
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I also talk about the European Sentinel Strike Challenge where Helsing's drone is one of the five finalists.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnRmC8k3qzn0Qxq-nQOWmOA/join
My Substack article about AI in war, as promised: https://www.wesodonnell.com/p/ai-in-w...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...n-warfare-what-you-need-to-know&v=T9mfII0wIhE
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May the force be with you...
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Chapters:
00:00 - Real Footage Confirms X‑Wing‑Style Drone Over Ukraine
00:13 - Debunking the Robot‑Uprising Narrative
00:29 - German X‑Wing Drone Tested in Ukrainian Combat
01:16 - HX‑2 AI‑Assisted Strike Drone and Its Human‑Centric Design
02:26 - Features and Low‑Signature Design of the HX‑2
03:41 - Mission Profile and Enemy Jamming Challenges
04:39 - Electronic Warfare Threats and the Need for Autonomous Terminal Guidance
05:51 - Narrow AI Vision System Powering HX‑2’s Final Approach
06:20 - Combat Footage Reveals Human‑Controlled Operations and Fail‑Safe Ascent
08:03 - Human‑Machine Hand‑off: Engineering the Right Division of Labor
09:17 - European Sentinel Strike Challenge and HX‑2’s Role
10:42 - EDA Field Trials: Institutionalizing AI‑Enabled Strike Systems
13:41 - Closing Remarks, Studio Updates, and Support for Ukraine


Video Sources: Helsing and Ukrainian footage from armyinform.com.ua
#MilitaryTechnology #Germany #Ukraine #UkraineWar #DroneWarfare #ArtificialIntelligence #GermanDefense #AIWeapons #UkraineDefense
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