- The US Navy needs a new weapons strategy to defeat drones in the Middle East.
- Naval expert Brian Clark suggests using jammers as well as laser and microwave weapons.
- Although missiles are useful, they are expensive and therefore not a sustainable option.
US Navy warships are extending their stay in the Middle East to confront an enemy supplied by Iran. Naval analyst Brian Clark said the crash shows that more sustainable weapons will be needed to thwart enemy drones.
“We’ve had to use surface-to-air missiles to shoot down some of these drones, but from a U.S. perspective it’s cost-effective,” said Clark, a retired U.S. Navy officer and senior research fellow at the Hudson Institute. So it’s not very attractive.” To Eric White of Federal News Network. “If you look at what the Ukrainians are doing to take down Russian drones, it’s mostly sabotage.”
The latest version of the SM-2 missile used by the destroyer to shoot down an Iranian-launched drone costs $2.1 million.
Clark suggested that in addition to Ukraine’s strategy to disrupt the guidance systems and control links of Russian drones, the U.S. Navy should also strive to develop technologies such as lasers and microwave weapons to blow up the drones. did.
Clark pointed out that the Navy already has laser models available that are less than 100 kilowatts and just needs to use them. “I think that’s the debate in the Navy: Should we wait for a big laser that can shoot down a cruise missile, or should we deploy a smaller laser today that can shoot down a drone?”
Using a million-dollar missile to take out a $1,000 drone may sound good in the moment, but to Clark, it’s not a viable long-term strategy.
“Operations in the Middle East highlight the need to deploy lasers sooner to combat the drone threat, eliminating the need to use expensive surface-to-air missiles to shoot drones. “I think the fact is that it’s gone down,” Clark concluded.
U.S. Navy missiles have been helpful, but there are still close calls. On January 30, a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis approached a US Navy destroyer, forcing it to use its last line of defense, a close-in weapons system.