After its use against drones, we expect it to be applied against manned combat aircraft – land and sea targets, changing the nature of warfare radically, but also the defense industry worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. military debuted a new technology this fall, as the 4th Battalion, 60th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (4\/60th Battalion) received the Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, or DE M-SHORAD, system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After training with similar systems last fall, the 4\/60th Battalion partnered with the DE M-SHORAD prototype team this March to train on the system. Following the recent delivery, the 4-60th Battalion will continue to train and evaluate the new equipment as the Army works to develop this system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DE M-SHORAD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is this new technology and how does it work? Its long name belies a relatively simple explanation, that it is a laser-based air defense weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the conflict in Ukraine continues to show, some of the most cost-effective strategic bombing involves single-use kamikaze drones. Compared to a fleet of bombers or guided missiles, these drones are incredibly cheap. They are also harder to detect than the above weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Destroying them usually requires the consumption of several anti-aircraft missiles or multiple air defense missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DE M-SHORAD can destroy incoming air weapons such as kamikaze drones using lasers, which is a much cheaper solution. The project costs about a gallon of diesel fuel to destroy an unmanned aerial system with DE. Compare that to launching rockets costing huge dollars against a drone worth just $2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system is mounted entirely on a Stryker Armored Vehicle, with no need for a trailer or other support or logistics vehicles. This greatly reduces the logistical burden, making the system much more viable for mobile units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laser Defense Weapons – Program (SDI)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Directed energy weapons are not a new phenomenon. Beginning with the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) of the 1980s, the Department of Defense has long sought to use energy as a weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SDI program, which attempted to use lasers to destroy incoming nuclear missiles, was terminated because the technology of the time was unable to produce a laser powerful enough to destroy high-flying ICBMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new system has already proven capable of destroying drones at a test site in Yuma, Arizona. The takedown is not as dramatic as a science fiction movie would make it appear. There were no bright red beams of light or large explosions. In contrast, the beam emitted by the DE M-SHORAD is not within the visible spectrum and produces no sound, simply focusing on the target and causing it to fall out of the sky, likely overloading its electrical systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Military Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the 4\/60th Battalion continues to work with DE M-SHORAD, analysts will eagerly monitor its performance and integration into Army tactical doctrine. The war in Ukraine has already prompted changes in procedures and innovations in weapon systems. The delivery of DE M-SHORAD is perfectly timed to take advantage of the lessons learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From the above it can be seen that the US military has successfully developed the DE M-SHORAD which is nothing more than a laser air defense weapon, thus finding a cheap and reliable solution to deal with enemy drones while avoiding the consumption of expensive missiles air defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is our assessment that integrating the DE M-SHORAD into the US military first and then acquiring it from NATO countries will actually be a “Game Changer” in modern military operations and future wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact that the system in question is mounted entirely on a Stryker Armored Vehicle, without the need for a trailer or other support or logistics vehicles, makes the system viable for modern military operations and tank maneuvers, creating a powerful their anti-aircraft shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the most important fact is that it is very difficult to apply electronic warfare countermeasures against it, at least from what is already known so far, while we expect it to be applied against manned combat aircraft – land and sea targets, changing the nature of warfare radically, but also the defense industry worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After its use against drones, we expect it to be applied against manned combat aircraft – land and sea targets, changing the nature of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1808],"tags":[4745,4746,4747],"class_list":["post-15612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defense-space","tag-air-defense","tag-de-m-shorad","tag-lasers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15615,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15612\/revisions\/15615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}