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It has been in the news the last six months: fiber optic drones, used mainly in the war between Ukraine and Russia. These drones are controlled by a thin, robust strand of cable, and have a ten-kilometer range. It is impossible to jam their RF signal, because they have no RF signal. The drone is visible to the intended target, but impossible to bring down with electronics. The present invention may offer an interesting countermeasures solution.
This invention for rockets that pop open to release a cloud of light rubber ribbons is intended for keeping areas, both defense and civilian, safe from hostile drones. “Small UAVs can be used for spying, carrying biologically catastrophic payloads, weapons, and the like. A DJI Phantom 3, for example, can carry 500 g of C4., and can cause serious damage to a critical infrastructure.”
The concept of this invention? Brute force: a ground station identifies a hostile drone and launches a small rocket. The rocket is programmed to burst open in a certain position above and in front of the hostile drone, releasing a cloud of light rubber ribbons that slowly waft through the air. If the ground station’s calculations are correct, at least one of the ribbons will get ensnared in the hostile drone’s propeller, which will cause it to fall. This invention would also work against a swarm, since the cloud of ribbons lingers for a while, making a ‘wall’.
The patent states: “The plurality of countermeasure (CM) objects may be packed in a projectile configured for launching toward a target location. The CM objects configured to interfere with normal operation of one or more propellers of the target UAV so as to disrupt a lift or thrust characteristic of the target UAV. The deploying may comprise releasing the plurality of CM objects into the air at a target location to form a three-dimensional cloud of CM objects.”
According to the Applicant’s website, https://www.airshare.ca/products, these rockets can be launched from a ground station, a drone, or even a hand-fired model.
Claim 1: “A method for intercepting an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising: detecting a target UAV entering a surveillance airspace, and deploying a plurality of countermeasure (CM) objects into a projected path of the target UAV, the CM objects configured to interfere with operation of one or more propellers of the target UAV so as to disrupt the lift or thrust of the target UAV; wherein the plurality of CM objects comprises unattached elongated pieces of flexible material having a length greater than 10 centimeters that are capable of further elastically elongating by 250%, and wherein one or more of the plurality of CM objects stretch by 10% or more when between two rotating propellers of the one or more propellers of the target UAV or when between a rotating propeller of the one or more propellers of the target UAV and another structural feature of the target UAV when disrupting the lift or thrust of the target UAV.”
Title: “System And Method For Intercepting Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”
US Patent No: 11757561
Filed (US Prov.): 2017-01-10
Granted: 2023-09-12
Applicant: Airshare, Inc.
