In the back lot of an industrial site in Canberra, an Australian-produced response to the growing drone threat in Ukraine runs through its paces.
A replica cannon mounted on the back of a pick-up truck tracks its target, part of a weapons system that launches “hard kill” strikes to blow drones out of the sky.
It is called Slinger and it is designed to counter drones at a cost that countries like Ukraine can afford.
“We’ve seen this massive proliferation of drone threats in Ukraine,” said Matt Jones from Electro Optic Systems, or EOS.
“The issue is the types of systems you would currently use to defeat drones are way too expensive to defeat a $10,000 or even a $1,000 drone.”
War has changed forever in Ukraine. Drones play a huge role above the front line. It is estimated thousands of drones are in the air every day.
“The speed at which not only can you find people on the battlefield, the speed at which you can target and destroy them, that is changing tactics,” retired Australian major general Mick Ryan said.
“It’s changing formations, and it’s going to have to change military doctrines and equipment everywhere.”
‘It’s all about the cost’
In a world of multi-million-dollar weapon systems, drones are the great equaliser. The feared Iranian Shahed model used by Russia to target tanks and cities costs about $31,000. Others cost less.
The missiles used to shoot them down can cost 10 times as much.
“Up until recently we had to use very expensive missiles to attack these things,” Mr Ryan said.
“If you’re using a $100,000 or $200,000 missile to shoot down a $10,000 drone, that doesn’t work for most countries.”
Slinger uses sophisticated technology to achieve a blunt result. In Canberra, EOS test engineer Charlotte Capper used a joystick to follow a drone on the system’s targeting screen.
“I’m just making sure it’s staying on track, it’s staying armed, and when we get the signal we can fire and take down the drone,” she said.
“It’s very quick and easy to learn. You don’t have to know much about the technology. It’s easy to see what each thing does and how it does it.”
Last month, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko saw first-hand during testing how Slinger can bring down drones for a fraction of the cost of missiles.
“Sometimes those missiles cost millions. And you hit the drones, which cost $20,000, right? And it’s all about the cost,” Mr Myroshnychenko said.
“But you never know where that drone is aiming at and what exactly that drone is going to destroy.”
Slinger’s price tag is less than $1.55 million per system. It aims to take down drones at a cost of between $155 and $1,550 per engagement.
