SAIC says that the Ukrainians will soon receive new systems equipped with missiles, machine guns and electronic warfare equipment. The US Army has not yet officially confirmed this.
The United States will send experimental weapons to Ukraine to combat Iranian and Chinese drones. This was reported by the American edition of Defense One, citing representatives of the state contracting company SAIC.
Delivery of anti-drone systems to Ukraine
On April 4, the Pentagon announced the delivery of a new package of military aid to Ukraine focused on air defense. It included mysterious weapon systems that the US called “10 laser-guided anti-UAV mobile missile systems.” The delivery follows a January contest held by the US Army to select a system against Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs.
On the sidelines of the Global Force symposium, an SAIC source told Defense One that it was the company itself that had to ship the 10 aforementioned anti-drone systems to Ukraine. In January, it conducted successful tests using BAE Systems’ APKWS laser-guided missiles, which showed 100 percent accuracy.
The US Army and another test participant, Invariant Systems, did not confirm that the complexes should be sent to Ukraine after testing, but confirmed other details consistent with the statements of SAIC employees. As stated in the contracts provided by the US military, the purpose of the test was to destroy third-class unmanned aerial vehicles weighing more than 25 kg, and the Shahed-136 weighs about 220 kg. The documents also state that the winner of the competition must be ready to ship weapons to partner countries within 30-90 days after the signing of the agreement – this is about the same time that elapses between the completion of the tests and the announcement of the supply of anti-weapons. -Drone equipment to Ukraine.
What can SAIC complexes do?
Greg Fortier, SAIC’s vice president for the military business unit, said that their new system costs less than $30,000 a single round, and it’s much cheaper than the larger air defense missiles Ukraine uses. During the tests, the system detected the UAV at a distance of about 10 km and hit it at 5 km, despite the army’s request for a range of 2 km.
SAIC systems engineer Jeremy Davidson added that the complex also includes an M240 machine gun mount and an electronic warfare system capable of taking control of a commercial drone, including any model of the popular Chinese DJI brand that is not protected by advanced encryption. It is worth noting that DJI drones are actively used in combat by both Russian and Ukrainian troops.
An expert from the United States Naval Analysis Center pointed out that in the past, the US authorities only sent current military technologies to Ukraine. It is not known for certain whether they provided any experimental weapons designed from scratch.
On March 30, information emerged that ultra-precise laser air defense systems against unmanned aerial vehicles were being tested in the USA. BAE Systems’ new APKWS technology turns conventional 70mm rockets into “smart” munitions that shoot down small warplanes.
Source: Focus
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