Savage Corp. has revealed new details of a missile custom made to stop drone swarms.
The challenge of tackling drones grows ever more urgent. Videos from the ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia show drones easily overcoming air defenses, taking out dozens of vehicles and groups of personnel. China recently demonstrated a ‘barrage drone launcher’ that can launch 48 small kamikaze drones able to co-ordinate their actions in a swarm attack. Existing systems are not effective against this kind of mass air assault, but a counter-swarm of smart missiles, using the same technology that enables the drones, could do the job.
The problem is obvious with the SHORAD-IM, the U.S. Army’s nest generation air defense vehicle, scheduled for 2023. It is armed with four Stinger missiles, a rapid-fire 30mm cannon, and two Hellfires. Maybe more Stinger launchers could be tacked on to deal with more drones, but in addition to weight, the problem is cost. Basic Stingers cost around $120k each; adding a proximity fuse to make them effective against small drones adds another $31k per missile. That’s not very practical against swarms of $2k multicopters.
Savage Corp., a startup headquartered in Erie, Colorado, takes a different approach to traditional missile-makers. The SAVAGE missile — “Smart Anti-Vehicle Aerial Guided Engagement” – is a low-cost unit made of carbon fiber and aluminum with 3D-printed parts. Initial design took place in 2016 with steady refinement since then. At under two pounds it is less than a tenth the weight of a Stinger. It may not be suitable for large targets like jet fighters, but it is more than capable of taking down any small drone.
SAVAGE missile and a typical quadcopter target
SAVAGE has a solid-fuel propellant rocket motor, giving it a speed of around Mach 1 and an effective range of five kilometers. A thrust-vectoring engine gives it the agility to hit small, fast-moving targets.
The most expensive part of any missile is the guidance system, and this is where SAVAGE is revolutionary. Rather than the type of heat-seeking sensor employed in small anti-aircraft missiles since the 1960s, it uses a video camera and commercial electronics.
“SAVAGE uses AI-based computer vision algorithms to detect and track the target,” Savage Corp CEO Nick Verini told me.
The camera system detects, identifies and tracks objects in its field of view at high speed. At its heart is an Intel
Verini says that the camera system is effective in daylight and low light conditions, but an infrared option is available for customers who want night capability as well. The current warhead is hit-to-kill, giving an idea how accurate it is, but other options are possible.
“We prefer the kinetic impact approach — one missile, one drone — but a potential customer is interested in an explosive payload option for taking down several drones in a ‘swarm’ with one missile,” says Verini.
Launcher concepts include a four-round, bazooka-like weapon for individual soldiers which weighs 15 pounds, and a 64-round vehicle-mounted unit to knock out an entire swarm. Price is a key factor in whether SAVAGE will be procured in large enough numbers, and Verini insists that it will be more affordable than existing missiles.
Co-ordination is an important part of SAVAGE operations, to ensure that each missile targets a different drone in the swarm. Each missile can communicate with the next via radio, across a range of a few hundred feet. This will be enough to network them all together for effective counter-swarm tactics.
SAVAGE may also be available in different formats. The U.S. Navy has expressed an interest in a smaller weapon which can be fired from existing 40mm grenade launchers, and Verini says they were able to fir their AI vision system and guidance into the grenade format. The 40mm version travels at 300 fps and has a range of up to 400 meters.
A 40mm anti-drone grenade was developed for the U.S. Navy using the same technology as the SAVAGE ... [+]
SAVAGE will not be a stand-alone system, but would form part of a layered aerial defense. Verini says the launchers can be integrated with any long-range radar surveillance system, which would cue the launcher to the presence, range and direction of threats.
SAVAGE is still very much at the testing stage, but appears to have impressed sufficiently to attract considerable attention from industrial partners and military customers.
“We are working with the DoD and several U.S. companies to get to a finished product,” says Verini. He was not able to share an exact timeline.
The small drone threat is evolving fast, with large numbers of drones poised to overwhelm existing defenses. Companies like Savage Corp. hope to turn the tide by countering drones with the same low-cost technology that makes them possible.
