Assessment of a last line of defense counter-UAV effector
Creators: name:  C. AMELOOT 
name:   C. ROBBE 
name:   A. PAPY 
name:   P. HENDRICK 
Publisher: name: Proceedings of  the 9th European Conference for Aerospace Sciences. Lille, France, 27 June - 1 July, 2022
Year: 2022
Subjects: UAV
FUTURE APPLICATIONS
UAV SERVICES
UAV SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGIES

description: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have a proven benefit in civilian and military implementations. The advantages for society expand tremendously as technological progress is made. These systems are increasingly characterized by autonomy and functional capabilities. Regrettably, an acknowledged fact is that these systems are abused by malicious actors aiming to harm society. Examples of scenes associated with adverse misuse of UAVs include highly populated urban environments, critical infrastructures and civilized areas [1]. In particular, various types of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAVs) [2] contribute to this precarious threat. While, for malicious actors, employing UAVs for harmful purposes can be an effortless action, countering it is decidedly demanding for nations. Supranational organi- zations [3] recommend to foster development and integration of Counter-UAV systems (CUAS). A response to the growing malicious use of UAVs is the growing development of CUAS to counter the threats. A wide range of perspectives and technologies is being assessed to find effective CUAS solutions [4]. Countermeasures can be categorized in different phases of a kill chain consisting of detection, tracking, identification and neutralization. These phases can be represented by the sequence Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage and Assess [1]. The order of the phases indicates the decreasing available time to act upon a threat. The considered phase for the scope of present work is neutralization. In particular, a system that can act upon the very final instances of time available to counter the threat may be called a last line of defense CUAS. Present work focuses on kinetic effector firearms as a compelling method of neutralization since such sys- tems are flexible, inexpensive and adaptable to the imminent scenario. Previous work [5] has modeled the trajectory of a non-conventional 12 Gauge CUAS multi-projectile ammu- nition exposing a remarkable and complex behavior. The projectiles effectiveness on the target and its risk regarding collateral damage is currently being assessed. The latter is achieved with ballistic limits. These allow to characterize the effect of a projectile on a target object. A first ballistic limit, named the v50,target, is represented as a velocity for which 50 percent of projectiles perforate a target object, i.e. the UAV. A second ballistic limit is defined similarly. The v50,skin is represented as a velocity for which 50 percent of projectiles penetrate a skin surrogate. This skin surrogate composition is defined in [6]. In conclusion, present work starts with a discussion on the need for CUAS solutions and the different phases of the kill chain. Then, several candidate technologies are presented. One solution, a last line of defense system, is elaborated since its flexibility allows to respond to many scenarios.