From a cannon to sparrows: will the micro-UAV return a shotgun to the battlefield
History small weapons began with a smooth barrel, but as soon as rifled small arms appeared, they began to rapidly displace smooth-bore weapons due to the greater range and accuracy of fire.
In relatively small quantities, smooth-bore small arms were still used by American troops in Vietnam, in some places they are still operated by the police, sometimes the armed forces are used to solve special tasks - knocking out door locks, firing non-lethal ammunition, and so on, however, these are rather the exceptions that only confirm the rule.
A potentially smooth barrel can "take its toll" in the event of the start of the massive use of feathered arrow-shaped sub-caliber ammunition, which the rifled barrel only interferes with increasing speed, and stabilization is provided by the plumage of the arrow bullet. The prospects for such weapons were considered in the article Caliber bullets and a tungsten carbide conical barrel: the future of small arms?
In civilian circulation, "shotguns" are used quite actively: both for hunting and for self-defense of the home - a plus for the smoothbore is a sufficient ease of acquisition, a relatively low lethal range of shot / buckshot, and bullet cartridges (pellet / buckshot / bullet will not fly a kilometer or more, killing a random person “on the way”), while large-caliber smoothbore weapons has a high stopping effect and low requirements for shooting accuracy (it is not so critical where exactly the sheaf of shot or buckshot hits, in the head / chest / stomach of the target, the enemy is almost certainly a corpse).
Well, and, of course, first of all smooth-bore weapons are hunting.
As for the armed forces, when firing bullets, a smooth-bore weapon on the head loses to a rifled one (not counting the aforementioned feathered arrow-shaped sub-caliber ammunition), and in principle there are no tasks for shot and grape-shot charges in the armed forces, at least not until now.
Micro UAV - Threat from the Air
At the beginning of the XNUMXst century, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) became one of the most important components of the armed forces.
No, of course, they were used in the last century, but only now their use has become massive and comprehensive - technologies have reached the required level.
UAVs are used not only by the armed forces of the leading countries of the world, but also by illegal armed formations (IAF) - they manufacture reconnaissance and combat UAVs from commercial models and individual components for them.
There is a steady trend towards the appearance of UAVs with less and less weight and dimensions.
At the moment, the weight and size characteristics of some UAVs are already equal to the size of medium-sized birds and are getting closer in weight and size to insects.
Earlier, we have already considered UAVs, which can be used both to destroy military equipment and enemy manpower, in the articles UAV kamikaze: new capabilities of ground units и Drones against manpower: will small-sized UAVs replace the rifle on the battlefield?
If the military equipment can still take care of itself, for example, with the help automated modules with 30-mm cannons, with shells with remote detonation on the trajectory or even using promising laser weapon modules, it is much more difficult to protect ground fighters without the support of "armor".
In fact, now the troops do not have effective means of countering micro-UAVs.
Laser weapons are not an option here - it is still unrealistic to make them in acceptable dimensions and with sufficient power to equip individual servicemen.
Portable anti-aircraft missile systems or do not see drones in general, or too large and expensive to be able to organize a defense against the attack of a dozen homemade quadcopters with an explosive charge or an attached grenade.
Anti-drone weapon
Periodically, information appears about the development of anti-drone weapons: various devices throwing a net, electromagnetic guns, GPS signal jammers, or even UAV interceptors.
They can be quite effective if it is necessary to shoot down a single UAV that flew into the airport zone, trying to adjust enemy mortar fire at a military base, or about to drop a grenade into position.
The question is how quickly the above types of anti-drone weapons can be used and with what probability they will ensure the defeat of a dozen, or even several dozen, simultaneously attacking enemy micro-UAVs, when the target will be precisely the fighters, and the drones themselves, having a mass of several dozen or hundreds of grams and sizes, like a sparrow / pigeon, will actively move and attack from several directions?
Advertising video for anti-drone weapon REX-1
Can we assume that electronic warfare (EW) means, capable of “closing” the selected area for the UAV, will become an insurmountable obstacle for the micro-UAV?
But here, too, one cannot be unequivocally sure of their effectiveness.
The noise immunity of satellite navigation systems is constantly improving, and at the final section, micro-UAVs launched into the attack area via an anti-jamming GPS channel will be guided using their own optical reconnaissance equipment, directly at the fighters using image recognition (such technologies are actively used and are being developed - remember the camera your smartphone, which is capable of recognizing the faces of people in the frame and even a separate smile, that is, facial expressions).
Of course, with this method of attack, there can be false victims and misses, but from the point of view of the attackers, everything will be compensated by the number and relative cheapness of the lost attacking UAVs against the destroyed targets - enemy soldiers.
In addition, EW means do not create a solid wall or an impenetrable force field; there may well be "gaps" that the enemy will take advantage of, or temporary gaps when EW means are stopped for maintenance or inspection.
Electronic warfare means themselves can be attacked with weapons aimed at radar radiation.
And finally, when attacking the enemy, the forward ground detachments can themselves get out from under the cover of electronic warfare means, where they will be attacked by kamikaze UAVs.
What else - to shoot down drones with existing small arms?
Perhaps it is possible, but how effective will such shooting be?
Try to hunt ducks with a submachine gun or machine gun, what will be the result?
No, a completely different weapon is used for the "ducks".
The return of the shotgun
As we said earlier, there is a huge number of UAVs of different weight and size characteristics.
For those that are "larger", specialized air defense systems (air defense) should work.
We are now interested in small-sized, so-called mini / micro / nano-UAVs (hereinafter referred to as micro-UAVs), which the enemy can use suddenly, at low altitude, without rising into the coverage area of air defense systems. Enough massively, and use such UAVs as kamikaze to directly defeat soldiers.
As the "top level" of targets, the defeat of which we are considering, you can specify the Turkish UAV-quadrocopter Kargu type.
Perhaps its size and weight are even excessive for use as a kamikaze UAV designed to defeat an individual soldier.
It can be assumed that kamikaze UAVs, optimized to defeat individual military personnel, will weigh from several hundred grams to one or two kilograms.
Such UAVs have several distinctive features.
Firstly, this is a relatively low flight speed, on average about 150 kilometers per hour (especially with a combat load).
Secondly, their design is quite vulnerable, most often made of plastic, first of all, the propeller blades are defenseless.
In principle, the dimensions, speed and maneuverability of the mini- and micro-UAVs under consideration are comparable to those of some birds, such as forest pigeons, geese and ducks.
It can be assumed that even their vulnerability to damaging elements will be somewhat comparable - many birds have a fairly dense plumage that protects them from shot (of course, at a firing range close to the maximum). At the same time, people hunt birds for a long time and very successfully, including such fast and "agile" ones as the snipe or the pigeon-pigeon.
Birds such as the snipe or the pigeon pigeon are quite difficult targets for the hunter. Image wikipedia.org
Based on the foregoing, it can be assumed that as a means of short-range self-defense against micro-UAV-kamikaze, ground fighters can use smooth-bore weapons with special shot / buckshot striking elements.
Presumably, the maximum range of destruction of a micro-UAV from such weapons will be up to 100 meters, and the effective range will be about 50 meters. This is quite enough, given that the UAV will have to carry out additional search and maneuver to defeat moving and hiding targets.
In what format can the “anti-drone shotgun” be implemented?
First of all, in the form of a separate smooth-bore weapon, made on the basis of civilian multi-charge models, for example, semi-automatic machines of the Saiga or Vepr series of twelfth caliber.
The disadvantage of this solution is that you will have to allocate individual fighters to solve the tasks of destroying kamikaze UAVs.
At the same time, specialized weapons will provide maximum efficiency in the destruction of micro-UAVs due to the long barrel and large ammunition load.
In addition, a specialized anti-drone smooth-bore weapon can be made for a more powerful cartridge, for example, a 12x89 mm caliber ("supermagnum", the actual size is 18,5x89 mm).
Also, a special sight can be installed on the anti-drone gun, optimized for the detection and destruction of micro-UAVs.
Potentially, shot / buckshot charges can be installed in under-barrel grenade launchers, the only question is what accuracy and at what range they can provide - the barrel is short, or rather, it is practically nonexistent.
The US Armed Forces previously used 40-mm canister ammunition for an under-barrel grenade launcher, with a maximum range of up to 30 meters, but they were not widely used.
A compromise solution could be the installation of underbarrel shotguns, there will be at least some barrel length and multiple charges for 3-4 cartridges of 12x76 mm caliber ("magnum", the actual size is 18,5x76 mm), but in this case the fighter is deprived of the underbarrel grenade launcher.
An underbarrel shotgun on an M-4 rifle and a Benelli M4 S90 shotgun of the US Armed Forces. Image wikipedia.org
What other options are there?
Article Combined small arms: causes, projects and prospects considered previously developed, existing and promising projects of combined small arms, including ammunition of several types.
In that article, it was proposed to consider the possibility of creating a promising combined rifle, which should include a module with a smooth barrel, for firing bursts at a distance of up to 400-500 meters under a telescopic cartridge with a feathered sub-caliber bullet of 2,5 / 10 mm - 3,5 / 10 mm, and a bullpup module with a rifled barrel designed for semi-automatic high-precision firing with a 6–8 mm cartridge for a range of up to 800–1000 meters.
Most of the previously developed / developed combined rifle complexes discussed in the article included a rifle module chambered for a standard cartridge of 5,45x39 mm / 5,56x45 mm caliber and a multiply charged grenade launcher of 12,7-20 mm caliber.
Potentially a combined rifle can include a module for existing ammunition of 5,45x39 mm / 7,62x39 mm or an experimental Soviet cartridge 6x49 mm, as well as a smooth-bore module with a caliber of 18,5-20 mm.
Accordingly, the smooth-bore module can be used both for the use of shot / buckshot anti-drone ammunition, and for firing explosive / incendiary ammunition, ammunition with swept striking elements or any other that can be effective in the given dimensions.
The pressure in the barrel of a smooth-bore gun is almost three times less than that of the rifled barrel of the calibers used in the armed forces, respectively, the smooth-bore module can be made of composite materials, with a relatively thin steel rail inside (however, according to this scheme, a rifled barrel can also be made , for a general reduction in the mass of the combination rifle).
Concepts and prototype of the American XM29 combination rifle, developed as part of the OICW program. Image wikipedia.org
And finally, another "advanced" option is the creation of mobile anti-drone systems based on small-sized robotic systems with high maneuverability, which also use something like a shotgun with automatic, possibly belt-fed, ammunition to defeat UAVs.
But this is already a much more difficult task "for the future", and in any case, such a robot will not always and not everywhere be able to accompany the fighters.
The question arises, will the fighters be able to effectively shoot down "agile" UAVs?
Most likely - yes, as always, someone is better, someone is worse.
At least there is already a way to train them - this is clay pigeon shooting or skeet shooting.
By the way, now people pay money for skeet shooting - it's great fun.
By the way, this is another indicator of the importance of civilian weapons in the country and the developed weapon / shooting traditions.
Timely detection
If it is quite possible to shoot down a micro-UAV with a shotgun, then it is much more difficult to detect it, especially in combat conditions, when it is necessary to move, take cover, follow the enemy and your own, and the noise of UAV propellers drowns out explosions and sounds of shots.
Article Battle suit. Wound statistics, bullets and splinters the probability of being hit by various factors was considered, including bullets, shrapnel of various sizes and high-explosive impact (excess pressure).
As a result, we can conclude that the most important task is to create a new generation of combat equipment capable of protecting a fighter, first of all, from light fragments and the effects of excessive pressure.
In terms of protection against UAVs, such equipment will give two important points:
1. Micro-UAVs will have to fly up and undermine in the immediate vicinity of a protected soldier - when detonated at a distance, either small fragments will not penetrate the armor, or large ones will fly by (you cannot put a large warhead with large fragments on a micro-UAV). This complicates targeting, slows down the attack, and gives more time to detect and destroy the attacking UAV.
2. Acoustic systems for detecting specific sounds emitted by UAV propellers can be integrated into the helmet. Unlike the human ear, digital loudspeakers can identify specific types of noise signatures emitted by UAVs, and use triangulation to determine the direction to the source.
The accuracy of such a system will be an order of magnitude higher, provided that all the helmets of the fighters are connected into a single network. The direction to the UAV can be displayed in any simple form on the visor of the helmet (as a direction or sector) and in the sight of the anti-drone weapon.
Anti-drone weapons can be additionally equipped with directional infrared and ultraviolet illumination - at least many commercial drones converted by militants into combat drones will shine with such illumination as a Christmas tree, and even combat models may have elements that glare in one or another wavelength range ...
Anti-drone smooth-bore weapons should be equipped with specialized sighting devices that increase the likelihood of detecting micro-UAVs. Image youtube.com
Conclusions
The problem of micro-UAV-kamikaze will become one of the most urgent in the near future.
Quite recently, we saw how UAVs of various types, including kamikaze UAVs, were effectively used during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and this is just the beginning.
The miniaturization of engines and electronic components, increasing the efficiency of batteries and optimizing control algorithms together can lead to the fact that mini- and micro-UAVs will become the main threat to the soldiers of ground units.
The solution to this problem must be sought today.
Will the shotgun be an effective weapon against UAVs?
In combination with other means of protection, such as electronic warfare equipment, interceptor drones, specialized anti-drone air defense systems of various types, it is quite possible.
At a minimum, smooth-bore small arms are simple to design and manufacture, and these weapons are available for use now, and the feasibility and effectiveness of its use will show time.
At least, from the fact that the fighters increase their shooting training and learn how to shoot skeet shots effectively offhand, it will definitely not get any worse.
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