Latest news with #RadiofrequencyDirectedEnergyWeapon
Daily Mirror
22-04-2025
- Daily Mirror
Gatwick airport crash fear as drone comes within 30ft of 737 jet
The passenger plane was over Bexhill on Sea in east Sussex when the frightening incident took place. It has just been revealed in the report of air accident investigators A drone came within 10m-20m of colliding with a Boeing 737 airliner on its approach to Gatwick Airport, a report reveals. Investigators said it was only due to 'providence' that a more serious incident did not take place. The report on the black object, believed to be a drone, was submitted to the UK Airprox Board, a body that probes aviation near-misses. The passenger plane was coming into land at Gatwick Airport, over Bexhill on Sea in east Sussex, when the incident occurred. Official papers state: 'The B737 pilot reports passing over the south coast, descending into LGW, when the Captain saw a black object (believed to be a drone) in front of the aircraft. "There was no time to take avoiding action and the object passed 10-20m on the right-hand side of the aircraft". The horizontal distance from the plane was around 30ft at its shortest point, while the object was spotted approximately 10 ft above the level the aircraft was flying at. "The pilot reported the near-miss to air traffic control. Airprox Board members ruled: 'The Board considered that providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed.' The incident in January this year was given an A rating, the most serious risk level. It was reported to Air Traffic Control with the danger of a collision said to be 'high'. Meanwhile, a new ray gun that uses high-frequency radio waves to blast drones out of the sky has been successfully trialled by the Army. Soldiers used the weapon to target and take down swarms of the deadly devices in the largest trial of its type at a firing range in Wales. And the successful trial was hailed a game-changer by defence minister Maria Eagle, who said it could save the country a fortune when it comes to buying weapons. The use of drones is on the rise across the UK, with warnings from police about their use in and around airports and in public spaces. Each blast from the Radiofrequency Directed Energy Weapon (RF DEW) costs just 10p. It could be used alongside existing systems, the Ministry of Defence said after trials last week. Developed and built in the UK, the weapon uses radio waves to damage critical electronic components inside drones, causing them to crash or malfunction. It can fire at drones flying up to 1km away, according to MoD experts. Tests have proven it was capable of hitting multiple targets simultaneously. The army tracked, engaged and defeated more than 100 drones using the weapon. No.10 has invested more than £40million in RF DEW research and development to date. The project supports 135 jobs in Northern Ireland and south-east England. The MoD has previously said the development of RF DEW systems could play a role in preventing disruption at airports.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Yahoo
The UK just took down a swarm of drones with a 13-cent-a-shot energy weapon
The UK's MOD said it used a radiowave-based weapon to shoot down a drone swarm. This would be a first for the cutting-edge weaponry in the UK. The RF-DEW disrupts drones with high-frequency radio waves and costs 13 cents a shot. The British Army says it shot down a drone swarm using a radiowave-based directed energy weapon, in a first for the technology in the UK. At an undisclosed weapons range in Wales, the Radiofrequency Directed Energy Weapon, or RF-DEW, tracked and took down the swarm during the trial, and worked with "near-instant effect," the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. RF-DEW has been shown in previous trials to be effective from over 1,000 yards. But — as the largest such trial in the UK to date — this was the first time it took down a whole swarm of drones. RF-DEW is being developed by a consortium led by French manufacturer Thales, which dubbed the tech "RapidDestroyer" during trials. Thales also collaborated with both the French and British defense ministries on the MMCM naval mine countermeasures system that is being rolled out this year. RF-DEW uses high-frequency radio waves to disrupt or damage electronic components inside drones, in what Thales described as a "hard-kill" mechanism. This is in contrast to existing systems that jam, or confuse drones, Thales said. The technology is considered to be a low-cost partner to larger-scale, missile-based air defense systems, and costs just 13 cents a shot, according to the MOD. The British Army conducted the trials against 100 small quadcopter drones, of two types: The Boresight Raider, a drone with swarming capabilities designed specifically for use in counter-drone tech trials, and the Parrot Anafi, a commercial off-the-shelf drone camera. Sgt Mayers, the British officer who brought down the drones, said that the system was "quick to learn and easy to use." "With improvements on range and power, which could come with further development, this would be a great asset to Layered Air Defence," Mayers added. This comes against a backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has seen major advancements in the use of drones in combat. Drone swarms — where groups of drones act autonomously or semi-autonomously and in concert with each other — are still in their infancy, with Ukrainian companies trialing swarms designed to resist Russian electronic warfare. The RF-DEW trial is part of a push to increase new technologies in British defense capabilities. There are currently no plans to deploy the system in Ukraine, the MOD said. In early April, the UK government announced a £400 million, or $530 million, fund for defense innovation, with 10% of the MOD's equipment budget to be ringfenced for new tech. Read the original article on Business Insider
