Commercial Drone Threat and the Effectiveness of Military Lasers and Pointers to Counter Them

Commercial Drone Threat and the Effectiveness of Military Lasers and Pointers to Counter Them

          Over the past ten years commercial drones have changed the landscape of warfare, both in small scale counter-insurgency conflicts and large-scale conflicts such as the war in Ukraine. Commercial “quadcopters” and heavy duty “octo-copters” provide their respective operators with a cheap, easy to fly, and easy to modify UAS system that can be quickly configured to carry an array of payloads and sensor suites. Commercial drones have shown their effectiveness both in the Middle East and Ukraine by hovering over targets and dropping grenades or modified mortar rounds onto their targets before flying away to be recovered or simply ditched by the operator due to the cost effectiveness to buy or make a new one. Quadcopters have also proved useful in Ukraine as a spotter to direct and correct artillery and mortar fire. While commercial drones do not possess the precision required by the US Military to adjust rounds due to the requirements for low Target Location Error (TLE), savvy operators on both sides of the conflict have proven effective at “walking in” artillery fire onto a target and confirming Battle Damage Assessment (BDA).

          Just as the use of commercial drones has evolved over time, so too have attempts to counter the threat that they pose. From using full scale surface to air (SA) shoulder launched missiles to complex jamming and signal interference, most countermeasures are bulky, expensive, complex, and extremely inefficient. Attempts to outfit front-line soldiers with anti-drone countermeasures has led to the fielding of various shotguns, short-range “drone buster” directional jammers and the advice to attempt to engage low-flying drones with automatic weapons fire. Most of the aforementioned attempts by front-line troops to counter commercial drones have proven to be ineffective at best and inefficient at worst, requiring soldiers to carry extra equipment and ammunition into a conflict where extra ounces and pounds quickly add up. What is needed by soldiers is a tactic for countering drones without the need for heavy additional equipment or the wasting of valuable ammunition.

          Commercial Drones are typically controlled via radio frequency and operate primarily on four bands (2.4GHz, 5.8GHz, 433MHz and 915MHz), with the ability to be flown as far as five to twelve kilometers from the operator depending on the radio wave band and the range of the drones’ engines. Average drones can carry payloads of up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds) at speeds up to 40 MPH with an average loitering time/ flight time of 1 hour. Typical commercial drones will have, at a minimum, a forward-looking camera and a downward-looking camera, both with Visible light and IR (Infrared) capabilities for flying at night. Most drones seen operating in conflict zones are also equipped with thermal imaging cameras as well as lateral and horizontal IR sensors to help the operators avoid obstacles while flying.

With the specifications of your average off-the-shelf drone in mind, we are presented with 3 main ways to counter the commercial UAS threat; signal jamming, kinetic solutions (shotguns, automatic fire, and SA missiles), and sensor interference. Jamming the frequencies that a drone operates on is inefficient on a small scale, and large-scale jamming proves problematic due to the large array of military and civilian equipment, such as radios and radar systems that operate on those same bands. Kinetic solutions are extremely inefficient, requiring the use of expensive SA missiles that would be better served on a threat such as low-flying rotary wing or attack aviation, and most soldiers, no matter how great a marksman, will have trouble hitting a flying target with their service rifle. Shotguns can prove effective, but are limited by the type of ammunition and choke selected; a larger spread will work well against close threats, but is ineffective against higher flying threats and a closer spread allows you to engage higher flying targets but takes away the advantage of a wide spread of projectiles. Finally,, we have sensor interference, which can range from simply blinding and confusing the pilot, to tricking the proximity sensors into uncontrolled maneuvers to evade non-existent obstacles, to damaging sensors and completely blinding the drone.

Many soldiers in the United States Armed Forces are equipped with the Harris AN/PEQ-15 Advanced Target Pointer Illuminator Aiming Laser (ATPIAL) on their issued service weapon, which has the capability to employ a visible laser with a wavelength of 635nm and an IR laser with a wavelength of 835nm. Certain soldiers also carry the handheld IZLID (Infrared Zoom Laser Illuminator/ Designator) which has a wavelength of up to 1550nm and a high-power output of 1000mW. Infrared lasers with wavelengths of between 700nm and 1100nm have the potential to damage sensors and cameras, leading to the blinding of the pilot. Infrared lasers have also proven effective at confusing infrared proximity sensors on drones, either forcing an autopilot/Autoland function, or confusing the drone into performing unnecessary evasive actions leading to loss of control and crashing. Higher power IR and green lasers with power outputs of 500mW or higher are easily capable of burning and damaging the plastic and semiconductor materials that most drones are made from.

While participating in the exercise Saber Junction 24’, elements of HHB, 4-319 AFAR were able to test the effectiveness of the PEQ-15 IR laser against a DJI Mavic style drone that had trespassed into the training area. Paratroopers from HHB engaged the drone at a distance of about 500 meters and about 200ft altitude with their PEQ15s, causing the drone to behave erratically before activating the “autopilot land” safety feature on the drone. Being able to ward off drones with PEQ-15s is not a tactic that is isolated to HHBs and command posts; almost paratrooper and artilleryman carries a PEQ-15 on their service rifle, which brings this tactic to the arsenal Battery Commanders can use for PAA and Fire Base defense. While using laser pointers to engage and attempt to down commercial drones comes with its own range of issues and dangers such as broadcasting your location to anybody with an infrared viewing device, and potentially disrupting manned military and civil aviation with dangerous and damaging laser radiation it also has proven to be a quick and efficient way for front line troops to maintain some form of drone defense without the need for heavier and less efficient means.  

Sources:

“How Chilean Protesters Took Down a Drone With Standard Laser Pointers” , Aaron Boyd, Nextgov.com https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/11/how-chilean-protesters-took-down-drone-standard-laser-pointers/161288/

“Airport Drone Mitigation Part 2: The Issues with Jamming Drone Frequencies”, Mark Rutherford, D-fendsolutions.com, https://d-fendsolutions.com/blog/issues-with-jamming-drone-frequencies/

“MAVIC PRO Specs”, https://www.dji.com/mavic/info

“specifications Integrated infrared and visible aiming lasersAN/PEQ-15 ATPIAL Advanced Target Pointer Illuminator Aiming Laser (ATPIAL)—Standard Power© 2021 L3Harris Technologies, In” , https://www.l3harris.com/sites/default/files/2021-02/cs-ivs-an-peq-15-advanced-target-pointer-illuminator-aiming-laser-atpial-spec-sheet.pdf