@xyfdi much of the anti-drone stuff is just stop-gap measures.
Russia and Ukraine both use slat-armour. Ukraine just does it more professionally I guess. The Russian way to do it is haphazardly.
Regarding EW and AAA, EW is more effective, but you have to switch it off to use your own drones. It's a purely defensive measure.
All drones use the same frequency, ergo you can't use EW on the offensive unless you accept that you won't have your own drone cover (potentially deadly mistake). It's why Israel didn't deploy EW in Gaza, and why the Palestinian resistance were able to spoof signals and hijack Israeli drones easily and regularly.
AAA is largely ineffective against drones unless they're coming from high up. Low-level fiber optic drones are wrecking havoc on both Ukrainian and Russian positions.
@Aldo2 DEW stands for direct energy weapons (read: lasers), not electric warfare, which also plays a part.
I saw the Russians reinvented the TOW last year with their wire guided drones. It was funny AF.
@xyfdi my mistake.
However, I think even with DEWs the problem of extremely small radar signature remains.
There's no point having a high-tech AAA weapon if it can't find and fix the target in time.
Apparently Ukraine is developing "sound detectors" to track fiber optic drones specifically (they are louder than normal drones).
Anyways, the fiber optic drones are used by both sides, so I guess everyone's laughing...
@Aldo2 Something tells me they have that shit figured out already. Ever heard of APS on vehicles?
@xyfdi meh, I don't think APS hard-kill systems have been properly worked out to be that efficient yet. There are still issues. One need only look at how Merkava IVs with trophy were getting destroyed or disabled in Gaza by simple drones or Yassins.
@xyfdi and fiber optic drones are designed so that EW has no effect on them to begin with (cables = no jamming).
*Edit: Here is an interesting article from last year which elaborates on fiber optic drones.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2024/03/08/russian-fiber-optic-drone-can-beat-any-jammer/
The Ukrainians recently captured a Russian drone which communicates via a fiber-optic link, making it jam-proof. This looks like a big headache and not just for…
Forbes