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This is how kamikaze drones work: the lethal weapon that will change wars

2021-12-07T13:23:00.131Z


Some experts believe that the spread of this low-cost, lightweight technology will change ground warfare as profoundly as the machine gun did.


By Ken Dilanian -

NBC News

DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah - The killer drone emerged from its launch tube, spreading its carbon wings and shooting into the sky.

Flying too fast for the human eye to follow, the battery-powered robot circled the Utah desert in pursuit of the target for which it had been programmed.

Moments later, it smashed through the driver's window of an empty van and exploded in a ball of fire.

"Nice impact," exclaimed an operator at AeroVironment, the company that produces the drone and sells it to the US military.

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Our sister network NBC News traveled to a military test center for exclusive access to the first public demonstration of the Switchblade 300, a small, low-cost “kamikaze” drone made by AeroVironment, which sources say the US Army has used discreetly. for years in targeted assassination operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The show told a story of promise and danger.

Americans have become accustomed to images of Hellfire missiles raining down from Predator and Reaper drones to strike terrorist targets in Pakistan or Yemen.

But that was yesterday's drone war.

A revolution in unmanned aerial vehicles is taking place, and the United States has lost its monopoly on the technology.

An AeroVironment operator prepares to launch the Switchblade drone at Utah's Dugway Proving Ground.NBC NEws

Some experts believe that the spread of semi-autonomous weapons will change ground warfare as profoundly as the machine gun did.

They can bypass traditional defenses to attack infantry troops anywhere on the battlefield, and cost just $ 6,000 each, compared to the $ 150,000 Hellfire missile typically fired by Predator or Reaper drones.

That capability could help save the lives of US troops, but it could also put them - and Americans at home - in great danger from terrorists or nation-states who have never had access to such lethal and affordable technology before.

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"I think this is going to be the new Improvised Explosive Device (IED)," said Shaan Shaikh, a missile expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"We can see that it is going to be a problem, and we have some defenses, but not enough," he added.

Nicknamed kamikaze, suicide, or killer drones, these unmanned aircraft don't fire missiles - they are missiles.

But unlike typical missiles, they can circle a target, wait for the ideal moment, and strike with incredible precision.

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The US Army could not have fought as it did in Iraq or Afghanistan if the enemy had had killer drones.

The next adversary on the battlefield is likely to have them.

And terrorists will end up having them too, a possibility that has national security officials looking for a solution, since there is no secure defense against them.

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"There are more than 100 countries and non-state groups that have drones today, and the technology is proliferating widely," said Paul Scharre, a former Army Ranger who is a scholar on the subject at the Center for a New American Security and is the author of

Army of None

, a book on autonomous weapons.

"It levels the playing field between the United States and terrorist groups or rebel groups in a way that is not good for us," he said.

Today's small lethal drones are difficult to detect on radar, and can even be programmed to strike targets without human intervention, based on facial recognition or some other type of computing resource.

And while the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security are spending billions of dollars creating "anti-drone" technology, experts say there is still no foolproof version.

Carried into battle in a backpack

Weighing just 2.5 kilos, including its small warhead, the Switchblade can be carried into battle in a backpack and fly up to 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) to hit a target.

The Model 300 is designed to kill individuals, while a larger version, the 600, can destroy armored vehicles.

AeroVironment cannot yet show the public the largest one.

They are called the Switchblade because their wings unfold at launch.

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“It allows our fighter to have a superiority on the battlefield, that our enemies cannot see, cannot hear, cannot tell what is coming, and really accurately achieve the effect of a specific mission,” explained Wahid Nawabi, CEO. from AeroVironment of Afghan origin.

Nawabi claims that the Taliban and others who have received him refer to him as an angry bird or a buzzing bee.

Public procurement data shows that the Switchblade 300 costs a small fraction of the price of a Hellfire missile, not to mention the full cost of keeping Reaper drones, piloted in Nevada, aloft.

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The Switchblade has a feature that allows the operator to adjust the blast radius, so that it can kill the driver of a vehicle but not a passenger, for example.

According to AeroVironment, the weapon can be "disconnected" up to two seconds before impact, in case of error or risk to civilians.

This deactivation capability is remarkable in light of the catastrophe that occurred in September, when the military killed 10 civilians, seven of them children, in a drone attack in Afghanistan that authorities say was a tragic mistake.

A Pentagon review found that the strike team was unaware of the presence of children when it decided to fire.

Officials said a child was observed via video feed of the target area after the launch, but that by then the Hellfire missile could not be canceled.

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The Switchblade has cameras that show a target seconds before impact.

But to get a better view of the battlefield, it is often used in conjunction with a small surveillance drone.

For the demo to NBC News, AeroVironment used the Puma, which is hand-launched like a large model airplane and provides high-resolution color images of the terrain.

The images transmitted by the Puma's cameras made it clear that an operator could see the expression on a target's face in the seconds leading up to the Switchblade's impact.

Portable drones provide air support to small ground force units even when air assets (fighter jets, helicopters, larger drones) are not available, Scharre explained.

“The ability to have something small and launched with a tube that's in your backpack, that the squad leader has access to, and that he doesn't have to radio for close air support ... it's a real game changer since the point of view of the military capacity ”, affirmed.

It's a game changer not just for the United States.

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The Switchblade may be the most advanced of the genre, but Russia, China, Israel, Iran, and Turkey all have some version of a killer drone.

Iranian-backed militias have used small drones in 10 strikes this year against US bases in Iraq, according to the military.

No member of the American staff has been injured or killed, but this is just the beginning.

An AeroVironment operator prepares to launch the Puma surveillance drone.NBC News

Last year, Azerbaijan used small Turkish-made drones to devastating effect against the Armenian Army, decisively ending the stalemate in a long-disputed enclave.

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A video released by Azerbaijan shows drones hitting artillery emplacements, tanks and troops surrounded by trenches that offered no protection against the fiery death raining down from above.

Drones are making the battlefield a much more dangerous place for ground troops. "

Paul scharre

Russia and Ukraine have used armed drones in fighting over a disputed region, and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels used them to blow up Saudi oil facilities in 2019.

Drones, Scharre and other experts say, may usher in the biggest transformation in ground warfare tactics since the advent of the machine gun in the early 1900s, which quickly put an end to sending large formations of troops marching into fire. .

The drones "are making the battlefield a much more dangerous place for ground troops," Scharre said.

"Hiding behind a wall or in a line of trenches is not enough to protect yourself from the enemy," he said.

US troops in Iraq are experiencing that danger firsthand.

Iranian-backed militias have used small drones in nine attacks on US facilities in Iraq this year, a US military spokesman said.

No one has been injured or killed, but it is only a matter of time.

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A suicide drone attack on an oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire killed two crew members off Oman in the Arabian Sea on July 29.

"We have found that every time we come up with some way to defend ourselves against [drones], technology advances rapidly to the point of defeating our defensive capabilities," explained Michael Patrick

Mick

Mulroy, a retired marine and former CIA officer who was a former CIA officer. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for the Middle East from 2017 to 2019.

Mulroy, an analyst at ABC News, noted that defenses against drones include electronic blocking and various methods of taking them down, but that there are technologies and tactics to circumvent all possible defenses.

AeroVironment CEO Wahid Nawabi speaks with NBC News National Security Correspondent Ken Dilanian in front of a truck used in a Switchblade drone demonstration. NBC News

The military, for example, can sometimes fire high-powered weapons at approaching drones on a battlefield.

However, within populated areas, small explosive-laden UAVs pose a more difficult problem.

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In a war zone, "more could be done with electronic warfare ... with the use of high-powered microwaves that could be very disruptive in a domestic context," Scharre noted.

"You could shoot bullets into the sky in a war zone, and you would be less concerned where they are going to land in the desert than you are in a large American city," he added.

Meanwhile, all the barriers placed in cities to keep bomb trucks away from buildings are useless against drones.


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So far, no terrorist group is known to have used a suicide drone.

But experts believe it is only a matter of time.

The Islamic State terror group placed explosives on amateur drones and used them to harass and occasionally injure coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.

The ghost of a swarm of explosives-laden drones whizzing toward a crowded American sports stadium keeps national security officials awake.

But the government has been slow to react.

It wasn't until 2018 that Congress granted the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies the authority to shoot down drones that are considered a threat within the United States.

Since then, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been hiring outside companies and testing technologies to defeat the threat of drones.

A spokesperson declined to comment when asked for an update from DHS's Science and Technology Directorate on the status of national anti-drone programs.

In an article posted on the DHS website in July, the agency discusses some of its anti-drone efforts, noting that tests have been conducted.

But the article doesn't say whether tests showed any of the technologies to work consistently.

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In 2018, the head of the DHS intelligence division at the time told Congress that drones posed a huge threat.

"Commercially available drones can be used by terrorists and criminals to deliver explosives or harmful substances, carry out surveillance both domestically and internationally against the citizens, interests and assets of the United States," said the official, David Glawe.

"This threat is significant, it is imminent and looming over us," he added.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-12-07

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