Month: October 2021

What weapons against drones?

For almost 20 years now, drones have been massively investing the battlefields and have been adopted by all combatants. In addition to this proliferation, there is also a growing miniaturization, and the ability to transform commercially available devices into weapons of war. In fact, in the face of this threat, several solutions are being tested today..

Above: an eagle intercepts a drone, at the base of Mont-de-Marsan. AFP.

The raptors

Let’s start with the most natural, and yet the most “innovative”. Many amateur dronists have seen their aircraft attacked by crows or buzzards, and know that the worst enemy of the drone is nature !

The French Air Force and the Dutch police were quick to understand the advantages of using birds of prey against drones. The problem is that this rather effective solution, however imaginative and noble it may be, has an unfortunate consequence: in addition to the fact that the animals can remain unpredictable, the birds are often injured by contact with the drone rotors. This has led to the abandonment of the majority of the programs carried out in Europe, whether by the army or the police.

The machine gun

Then comes the solution of the machine gun, or more globally of the kinetic weapon. Large-caliber machine guns, automatic cannons or miniguns seem theoretically suitable, but tests have shown that the stopping time is not optimal: a suicide drone, for example, can continue its deadly course, even dislocated by the impact of bullets. Moreover, human targeting is extremely difficult and only an automated system seems to be able to track and engage such a small and agile target..

Hacking & jamming

Thirdly, the least “sexy” solution, but also the safest: taking control of the drone by an advanced detection and neutralization system. Double advantage: the system allows to avoid the crash of the machine, but also to trace the origin of its signal.

However, it is likely that, faced with this solution, drone manufacturers, particularly military ones, will harden the data links of their aircraft, and it should also be noted that the current solutions are far from being easily transportable and usable on a field of operations.

We will also think of the electromagnetic wave gun, which in the same spirit jams the connections.

Several companies in the world are working on “jammer” guns. Here CERBAIR

The Laser

VLet’s come to the laser… And not the ones from Star Wars, since we recall that directed energy weapons act invisibly to the human eye.

The laser has it all: self-defense devices designed today to be mounted on a vehicle have ample capacity to fry a drone’s systems, with the luxury of firing at the speed of light.

The grenade launcher

Here is the solution recently successfully tested by the French army, and which has the merit of using a device already available on vehicles in service : the remote-controlled grenade launcher.

The military has indeed concluded that the blast effect of a grenade has a devastating effect, not only on a drone, but also on a swarm of drones !

These various solutions are innovative, original, and effective to different degrees and in different cases. However, they all have in common that they can be perfectly integrated in a gameplay !

Elementor #2944

Even if they have been very discreet since the rise of helicopters, military seaplanes are nevertheless of definite military interest, and even tend to come back into the plans of strategists. For example, US SOCOM, the US Special Forces Command, is once again working on an amphibious C-130 concept (the MAC project for “MC-130 Amphibious Capability”, which could be nicknamed “Sea-130”). So why this renewed interest in seaplanes ?

Need for tools for amphibious warfare

The seaplane had its golden age between 1930 and 1960, first in the civilian field and then during the Second World War, where dozens of models were designed, because their use was essential for all the belligerents: anti-submarine warfare, maritime patrols and, above all, rescue operations, because the conflict saw an unprecedented number of men to be recovered from the sea…

*The mythical Catalina, here in War Thunder.*

In 2021, SOCOM unveiled a few hybrid aircraft projects that could interest it in the near future for its maritime operations. Among them are tiltrotors and hybrids (and even the return of the Ekranoplanes?), but also the “navalized” C-130 project. In fact, the MAC project, which has been on the drawing board for decades, could become a reality as early as 2022 or 2023.

The reason is of course the strategic interest of the USA in the Indo-Pacific theater, where China is displaying its ambitions. As in the Pacific War, it is necessary to have aircraft that are neither dependent on airfields on islands, which can be taken or destroyed, nor on aircraft carriers. Moreover, in this region, where distances are very long, the C-130 Hercules is, because of its range, an ideal departure platform, a Swiss Army knife plane, controlled and robust.

*Seaplanes had made the Pacific their kingdom. This is the Boeing B-314 Clipper, serving the PAN AM.*

*France briefly set up a Biscarosse-Fort de France route with the impressive Latécoère 631.*

Others did not wait…

While U.S. Special Forces may soon be conducting infiltration or exfiltration missions in this manner, other countries have never abandoned this air-amphibious capability.

This is particularly the case for the Chinese, who since 2017 have purely and simply the largest seaplane in the world: the AG600. With a wingspan of 38m, it is the size of a Boeing 737 and perfectly serves the Chinese strategic designs in their close maritime environment.

On the other hand, Japan, as an island nation, relies on the superb Shinmaiwa US-2, a 47-ton rescue seaplane suitable for maritime patrol, which has a short take-off time of only 280 meters.

Finally the Russians. If, during the Soviet era, multiple pharaonic projects were imagined, in particular by the manufacturer Beriev, without finally seeing the light of day, the Russian navy can on the other hand always count on the Be-200, the only jet-powered amphibious aircraft in the world, as much at ease in anti-submarine warfare as in fire-fighting.

Relatively ignored, military seaplanes can be an interesting tool for video games, especially in special forces scenarios.

Command & Control

Real-time strategy, or RTS, is a major genre that represents perhaps the best experience of war in video games. So much so that it now inspires the arms industry or the military staffs.

Managing a war economy, protecting your workers, developing technologies, building your army… The main principles of modern strategy (called “Clausewitzian”) are present in RTS. The Napoleon of the future may be found on Starcraft 2, and it is not insignificant to note that Google-Deepmind has confronted “AlphaStar”, its AI, to the best RTS players in the world.

Above: many armies (here French) are studying concepts like the Microsoft Hololens.

Dispelling the fog of war

For example, scouting consists of sending a unit close to the enemy base or army to find out what options the opponent has chosen, and is basically the same as reconnaissance, or intelligence. Because what you need is to know the enemy’s intentions in order to avoid the strategic surprise that will be fatal to you.

We could also mention the idea of the decisive battle, one of the great (and decried) concepts of strategy. Practice leads me to say that the higher the level, the more we go from skirmishes to confrontations where the opponents will try to attract each other on the right ground, at the right time, so that the fate of the war will be settled in a single battle.

Just like serious games in the corporate world, wargames are making a strong comeback in the military, whether to simulate guerrilla warfare or high-intensity warfare.

However, video games allow us to go much further in the simulation. We mentioned the fog of war: it is almost impossible to represent on a physical board, whereas games like Warcraft or Age of Empires have been perfectly depicting it for 25 years.

Command and Conquer Control

The concept of C2 is normally quite obscure to the general public, but it can be summarized simply as the work of a staff in a theater of operations, namely the ability to make the right decisions and, above all, to be able to communicate them correctly to the various echelons.

With the digitization of equipment, the military is looking for the best representation of the battlefield, with the maximum amount of data in real time. This is what is known as infovalorization: the optimal exploitation of information resources, enabled by new technologies to improve operational efficiency.

MBut the risk today, with so many sensors, is of course data saturation, or INFOBESITY! Because on the “map” of the battlefield, we quickly go from that :

To that :

Captures from the excellent Wargame series by French developer Eugen Systems

Video games have always tried to get around this problem, from the tactical to the strategic level, continuously innovating in representations, ergonomics, HUDs, which now inspires engineers and commanders who are looking for 3D solutions, for example. In other words, the video game has involuntarily anticipated the current situation.

Today, we hardly touch the question of the generational impact of videogame practices, because even the FPS with its minimap, or the generalized use of the gamepad and VR, have today consequences on the development of military technologies.

Elementor #2955

Regularly, the images of quadripod robots agitate the media world. All the more so as we are now beginning to see some of these machines equipped with weapons. An anxiety-provoking representation that pop culture has seized upon.

Above: the “robot dog” from Ghost Robotics was presented equipped with a SWORD precision rifle.

We could write lines and lines about the “Terminator” fantasy in society, including how the media or even some political groups view military robotics.

This is of course due to the timeless success of the Hollywood saga initiated in the 80s, but also, in the more recent period, to the return of “killer robots” in pop culture in general, in a less anthropomorphic representation, and more… animal.

The most striking episode concerns, precisely, a famous episode of the anticipation series “Black Mirror” in 2017, entitled “Metalhead”, which featured abominable (yes yes) small quadruped robots chasing human beings. A concept taken up again by the “War of the Worlds” of Canal+ in 2019.

Coincidentally, the American company Boston Dynamics became famous at the same time for the antics of its now famous robot SPOT, which demonstrates the extent of its learning with each appearance. It didn’t take much for the general public to become alarmed about the future domination of humans by machines !

In another episode, in 2021, the French Army used SPOT during a demonstration of the use of robotics in combat. The small Boston Dynamics robot was there to illustrate its ability to do reconnaissance in a building, taking advantage of its exceptional agility. The images were immediately interpreted as the army’s intention to use it in combat, which was denied by the company !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ad3i55AT_Y

So here we have a debate that excites, because it terrifies. But as deep as your fears of robots are, these devices require such a level of sophistication to evolve in the field that they are still very far from operational maturity. Even more so if it is a theater of war. Besides the mechanics, which are certainly impressive, there is above all the problem of evolution in a changing world. Yes, a quadcopter will be agile, but much more fragile than a tracked or even wheeled vehicle.

Various experiments have been carried out, mainly by the Americans, with MULE quadcopters, which have all come to the same conclusion. These technologies are still too fragile, too little enduring, too noisy… and the robots remain entirely dependent on humans.

The video game has a bit of a head start

Of course, the video game industry has not been spared and action games have very quickly adopted these machines, equipping them with a deadly arsenal. We are still in anticipation scenarios here, but there is perhaps an idea of what these machines will be capable of in one or two decades.

Preparatory drawing for Ghost Recon Breakpoint at Ubisoft

FUN FACT: Recently, the Battlefield 1942 beta took place, during which some players could see the erratic behavior of some of these robotic quadcopters. Unintentionally, this may be an accurate reproduction of reality! For now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vEUDrmwQos

Vauban in the desert

Any specialist of Tower Defence will tell you: an effective fortification is based above all on the good coverage of all the angles. A recipe that modern means have made it possible to overcome. But, sometimes, the good old methods allow to quickly ensure a defense in a hostile zone.

Above: the work of the 17th RGP of the French Army in 2018, in Mali..

In 2010, this memorable scene from Call of Duty Black Ops put us in a very perilous situation: that of the defenders of an American forward base in Vietnam.

Control the field

The truth is that in war, weapons have changed, but not some rules. One of the most important rules is to seize the best position, fortify it and then hold it. And in the modern context of external operations, armies have specialized in the construction of the famous FOBs, outposts designed to hold key areas of a territory.e.

NATO, for example, has built hundreds of them (always square or rectangular) in the valleys or on the peaks of Afghanistan, choosing their locations carefully. Only in Far Cry do they still build bases below high points or cliffs !

Another French FOB at Labbeganza in Mali. The 2nd line of fortifications can be seen in a star shape.

Vauban fortresses… against terrorism

Nostalgic fans of the Stronghold saga will remember that a good medieval fortification (i.e. high and thick) can withstand most sieges… at least until the appearance of cannons !

From the Renaissance onwards, with the arrival of gunpowder, military engineering had to reconsider itself. Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban proposed to King Louis XIV a star-shaped structure that would serve as a model for French strongholds during the European wars..

The Vauban fort is designed to optimize the defensive firepower in several angles. Thus, each “arrow” of the star covers its neighbor. In Empire Total War, Vauban forts are a technological must during your conquest campaigns.

And now they are making a comeback, with the addition of modern means: cement blocks, HESCO gabions, anti-vehicle ditches, and of course modern weapons. Cameras, drones or balloons also ensure a permanent surveillance of the perimeter, in addition to the traditional sentries.

The French have been working hard lately to revive the tradition, with several works in Africa, especially in the Sahel, or as below in Ivory Coast, the work of the 43rd BIMA.

Another famous example, the French army reinvested and modernized in 2015 in Niger the former colonial fort of Madama, which it had itself occupied more than a century earlier !

Finally, let’s stay in the Sahara to show the unprecedented “Great Wall” built by Morocco between 1980 and 1987: 2700 kilometers of artificial dunes, on two or even three lines, decorated with anti-tank ditches, artillery batteries, barbed wire … and anti-personnel mines.

If these fortification models are not very suitable in the face of a heavily mechanized assault, and even less so in the face of the air force, they remain quite effective for controlling an area in the context of a counter-insurgency war.

While Tower Defence is in fashion, and the recent RTS Age of Empires IV emphasizes the importance of fortifications, these few examples show us that even in today’s theaters, some rules remain unchanged, offering a curious mix of tradition and modernity.

«BRRRRRRRRRRRRT » : The A-10 Thunderbolt

The mythical A-10 “Warthog” aircraft enjoys a popularity rating that is rarely equaled and often symbolizes, in Pop Culture, the brutal and indestructible American power. We can think of its presence in blockbusters (Terminator, Transformers), but also in many video games (CoD Modern Warfare 3, Ace Combat and even a futuristic version in Arma 3), and even in the simulated attack of the Russian cruiser Kirov in “In pursuit of Red October” by Tom Clancy.

« My gun has a plane »

In the 1970s, the US AIR FORCE was looking to acquire an aircraft capable of destroying the hordes of Soviet tanks that were supposed to be sweeping across the European plains. To do this, it needed a rustic aircraft with an unrivalled strike force.

The solution is therefore not one, but two programs conducted in parallel :

The GAU-8/A Avenger rotary canon : the most powerful aerial cannon in history, composed of seven 6-metre tubes weighing 1,830 kilograms, is theoretically capable of delivering more than 4,000 rounds of 30 mm per minute (although, in reality, only six of its depleted uranium anti-armour ammunition can kill a tank) ;

The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II : Built to accommodate the Avenger, the aircraft is not supersonic but durable, inexpensive, and above all particularly robust, so that it can land on makeshift or damaged runways and be repaired easily (most of its parts are “canibalizable” and reversible, which allows a wreck to be used as a stock for other aircraft). Most of the vital systems are also lined and armored, and the pilot is overprotected in an armored cockpit).

The A-10 seems indestructible. Shown here in 2017 with no landing gear or canopy after a serious firing incident.

This combination gives birth to a unique aircraft, since it is the only one to be built around its gun, and not the other way around as it is customary in aeronautics…

A mythic plane

If the Warthog can carry the whole range of modern weaponry, from guided bombs to missiles and rockets, it is the Avenger that makes it famous, with the immensely famous “brrrrrrrrrt”. But behind the myth, there is also a real success, for an aircraft that has never been exported by the US,

Although it never served during the Cold War, it had its first moment of glory in 1991 with the Gulf War, where the A-10s gave themselves an impressive hunting record by destroying more than 1,000 tanks, 2,000 vehicles and 1,200 Iraqi artillery pieces. They were also deployed in the Balkans in the 1990s.

But the second birth of the A-10 came with the wars of the 2000s, in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it became one of the most appreciated Close-Air-Support (CAS) vehicles for ground troops. Its ruggedness allows it to make low-level passes in memorable shows of force, and its cannon delivers precise and destructive fire, even in the absence of a clear target designation. Sometimes, its presence alone is enough to put an end to the fighting…

Over the past 20 years, the A-10 has restored the prestige of CAS, and inspired the new wave of turboprops dedicated to air operations. It has also proven its usefulness, as the US Air Force, after having wanted to replace it with the very expensive (and failing) F-35 for a while, is now trying to imagine the tank killer of the future. In the meantime, the Warthog will be spitting fire until 2040…