Recently, the Polish Army in cooperation with government services once again conducted tests of equipment for detection and countermeasures against unmanned aerial vehicles. Zakłady Mechaniczne “Tarnów” S.A., Kubara Lamina S.A. and Military University of Technology presented two newest kinetic and non-kinetic drone countermeasure systems at the Central Air Force Training Ground in Ustka.
In the non-kinetic drone combat system, the effector is an electromagnetic emitter developed by ZM “Tarnów” S.A., WAT and Kubara Lamina S.A. Similarly to its kinetic counterpart, in the mobile version presented on the training ground, it was mounted on the platform of the anti-aircraft set. Additionally applied electric drives allow for azimuth and elevation adjustment of the generated beam of electromagnetic radiation of the emitter. The function of the operator station is performed by a reinforced military computer together with a monitor, and the installed optoelectronic warhead enables the interception and tracking of detected targets. It is also planned to integrate the effector in the form of an electromagnetic emitter into the C2 command and control system. This will allow to control, from the operator console, a larger number of effectors, as well as to assign different tasks to particular effectors and to report and precisely define the combated targets. Additional imaging of the air situation in both systems enables the use of RADA RPS-42 radar. Both unmanned aircraft combat systems have achieved positive results during the mentioned research and tests. According to engineers from ZM “Tarnów” S.A., Kubara Lamin and WAT, the current level of technological readiness confirms the prospectiveness of development of electromagnetic weapon using energy directed at this type of targets. During the trials, the kinetic system knocked down a single drone with just 36 rounds of ammunition, while its non-kinetic counterpart neutralized as many as six drones in three different flight configurations: hovering, flying and drone swarm. Currently, the Tarnów-based company is planning further development work with WAT and Kubara Lamina on both systems, which will most likely be offered to the Polish Armed Forces as well as other uniformed services.
