Armasuisse conducts tests to defend against mini-drones
The Swiss Federal Office of Defense armasuisse is conducting tests with several systems to defend against mini-drones. The trials are intended to provide insights into the performance of drone defense systems.
From August 26 to September 20, 2024, the Federal Office of Defence armasuisse, with the support of the Defence Group and RUAG, tested various domestic and foreign systems to defend against mini-drones. Over a period of four weeks, each system will complete various standardized scenarios and missions. The aim of this procedure is to evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of the systems selected for the trials in various threat scenarios.
The missions range from simple detection scenarios to complex tasks that specifically challenge the weaknesses of the defense systems.
Focus on management systems
The trials of the first two weeks (August 26 to September 6, 2024) will take place at the Payerne military airfield in the canton of Vaud. The trials will focus on sensor technology and command and control (C2) systems, the core of a drone defense system. A key objective of the trials is to evaluate the efficiency of command and control systems. To ensure that new sensor and effector technologies can be integrated at a later date, particular attention is paid to the flexibility of the command and control systems. This means that drone defense can always be kept up to date.
Use of effectors in the electromagnetic spectrum and small systems
The experiments of the last two weeks (September 9 to 20, 2024) will take place at the former military airfield in St. Stephan, Canton of Bern. The focus of the first phase is on effectors in the electromagnetic spectrum in order to gain further insights in this area. Effectors can take targeted measures to neutralize a drone or render it harmless.
In the second phase, on the other hand, the focus is on testing various small systems that also operate in the electromagnetic spectrum. These consist of just a few components, are very mobile and can be used flexibly. Among other things, they can be used to support blue light organizations, which can use these systems to protect events, for example.
Outlook
The trials are intended to provide an insight into the current state of development of the drone defense systems tested. The findings will form an important basis for the next steps in the procurement process of potential systems and thus for closing the capability gap in the defense against mini-drones. Once the collected data has been analyzed, selected systems will later be tested with the troops. It is planned to procure a powerful and future-proof drone defence system with the 2027 Armed Forces Dispatch in order to strengthen the Swiss Armed Forces' defense capabilities and contribute to Switzerland's security.
Source: ar.admin.ch
