U.K. touts test of new radio wave weapon to take down "swarms of drones"
London — The U.K. military has conducted a successful field test of a new type of weapon designed specifically to take down multiple drones launched in a coordinated attack, the government said Thursday. In a statement, the government said British soldiers had "successfully tracked, targeted and defeated swarms of drones" for the first time using "a new directed energy weapon developed in the U.K."
The "RapidDestroyer," a Radiofrequency Directed Energy Weapon (RF DEW) was developed by a consortium led by the British arm of French defense giant Thales. The test took place at a military weapons range in Wales, "and was the largest counter-drone swarm exercise the British Army have conducted to date," according to the government.
In a video posted on social media, the Ministry of Defense said RF DEW systems use radio wave energy to "target," "disrupt" or "damage" components of drones directly, rather than just disrupting their communications with ground operators.
At a cost of around $0.18 per fired shot, the government said RF DEWs could provide a "cost-effective complement to traditional missile-based air defense" systems.
During the trial of the RapidDestroyer system in Wales, the weapon was used to intercept more than 100 drones, the military said. The government stressed that RF DEW systems are currently effective against targets at a range up to about half a mile, and "against threats which cannot be jammed using electronic warfare." Work to increase their effective range continues.
It is not the first weapon that uses high frequency energy to target unmanned aerial vehicles. The U.S. military has trialled at least two weapons systems designed to take down drone swarms, but both use microwave energy rather than radio waves.
In 2023, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory said it had carried out a successful test of its Tactical High-power Operational Responder (THOR), "as it engaged a swarm of multiple targets" at a testing site at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The U.K.'s announcement comes on the heels of the British government announcing its biggest increase in national defense spending since the end of the Cold War — and the statement released Thursday specified that such advanced weaponry would be part of that investment.
"The government is significantly increasing the proportion of [the Ministry of Defense's] equipment procurement spend on novel technologies, spending at least 10% from 2025-26," the statement said.
It said RF DEW systems could be used "to protect the U.K. from unidentified drones at security sensitive areas such as defense bases, and could play a role in preventing disruption at airports."
The incentive to push advances in such weapons has been highlighted by Russia's relentless use of drones in its three-year war against neighboring Ukraine, the U.K. government said.
"Drone swarms are increasingly seen in use in frontline combat in Ukraine," the government said. "U.K. Defense Intelligence estimates that last year Ukraine had to defend against attacks from more than 18,000 drones."
Ukraine unveils its own drone killer as U.S. backing wanes
Justin Bronk of the Royal United Service Institute, a military-focused think tank in London, told the Financial Times that "high-powered microwave systems are potentially a very effective tool for defense against large numbers of [drones] and potentially cruise missiles as well."
Smaller weapons designed to intercept or destroy single drones have been deployed by military and police forces around the world. During the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024, French law enforcement agencies intercepted over 50 drones using hand-held anti-drone weapons.
In 2015, U.S. aerospace and defense behemoth Boeing developed a laser weapon capable of taking down an unmanned aircraft by burning components of it from a distance in under 15 seconds.
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