Thread by @elisabethmalom1

🧵First #IDEX2023 coverage: Counter-drone manufacturers say they are increasingly miniaturizing & simplifying systems to meet rising demand for man-portable weapons, as recent conflicts have emphasized importance of mobile capabilities. But this is risky:
defensenews.com/unmanned/2023/…

2. Warren Brown, Fortem Technology VP of Marketing explains that the purpose & ways portable drones interceptors are used today have changed over the last decade "Historically, security detail & protection of major events, key infrastructure has been focused on fixed solutions."

3. More recent conflicts in the Middle East and #Ukraine have shifted the focus to ‘on-the-move’ systems that provide advanced radar detection capabilities, ease of deployment and portability, low overall cost of operation as well as low per-use cost,” he said.

4. There seems to have also been to an extent a change in the belief that C-UAS measures must be large in order to be good.

5. In May 2022, Fortem Technology sent its man-portable DroneHunters to #Ukraine, stating in a press release that it had taken the pre-existing C-UAS system and further miniaturized and simplified it for use as an expeditionary rapid deployment weapon.

6. Matt McCrann, CEO of DroneShield, believes this is telling of where these types of technologies are heading. “Absolutely, the goal is always to take a capability and make it easier to use, more effective and cost-effective. Smaller, better and cheaper,” he said.

7. DroneShield’s hand-held countermeasures, such as its DroneGuns, provide a number of advantages. As a small and lightweight system, it is an easily transportable C-UAS capability that can be stowed in a vehicle, rucksack or body-work with a sling as the battlefield shifts.

8. Fortem’s 5,000-plus documented captures ave shown solutions have a success rate of 92%. DroneHunters were further deployed to protect multiple stadiums during the FIFA World Cup in #Qatar.

10. For DroneShield, their operational effectiveness have been high in both military and more traditional security environments, pointing to the recent instance where its DroneGun Tactical was used to neutralize 4 hovering drones during the presidential inauguration in #Brazil.

11. Shrinking any given capability generally involves 1 or several tradeoffs. For electronic countermeasures, miniaturizing tradeoff is usually in the total output power of the system where smaller may indicate its less effective range and the need to get in closer,