The small, agile drones can attack in large numbers and cause significant damage. At the same time, it is costly for the defender to, for example, strike them down with an expensive air defense robot, which is better used against, for example, a helicopter or a cruise missile.
They are very small and they move very fast. So, detecting them with just human senses is almost impossible, then it's too late, says Kristoffer Rahlskog, project manager at Gotlandsregementet P18.
Tested on Russian drones
The Swedish Armed Forces have, together with the Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) and the defense industry, developed the new anti-drone system in one year. During the test period, large numbers of drones, copies of those used by Russia in Ukraine, have been shot down over the Tofta shooting range.
We have taken existing systems in the Armed Forces and then assembled them, says Rahlskog
The drone is detected and identified with the help of a radar, and when the decision is made to shoot down the threat, the drone is shot down with the help of a weapon station.
The different units can, in turn, be mounted on regular trucks or off-road vehicles, as well as on ships.
Even an adapted combat vehicle 90 can combat drones with just its own sensors.
But we need better sensors on it to be really sharp, and we're looking at that, says Rahlskog.
The idea is that it should be a solution that is easy to move and use cheap ammunition that is plentiful. One requirement was that conscripts should be able to use the system, so conscripts from P18 have been involved from the start.
Oliver Hedlund, from Täby, has been trained as an operator on the radar system, which detects, identifies, and tracks the drones.
It has been very exciting and I am grateful to have been a part of this. It is unique, he says.
When the system will be available to the units is unclear.
We will deploy them gradually. This system has also been purchased for Ukraine, where it is being introduced, says Jonas Lotsne, head of operations at FMV.
"Different types of threats"
Unlike the Patriot system and the billion-dollar order of German IRIS-T SLM presented on Monday, this anti-drone system is built to strike down low-flying, cheap targets at close range.
We create an air defense capability with different altitude coverage, simply to address different types of threats – from fighter jets and down to small FPV drones, says Supreme Commander Michael Claesson.
Gustav Sjöholm/TT
Facts: New anti-drone system
TT
The system has been built from existing weapon systems. The drone is detected and identified with the help of the Giraffe reconnaissance radar from Saab, and when the decision is made to shoot down the threat, the system can do so with the help of either a 40-millimeter air defense cannon from Bofors (Tridon MK2) or a machine gun and automatic cannon mounted on Saab's Trackfire system.
