As F-35 fighters roared overhead in display, Lockheed Martin unveiled its MORFIUS counter-drone at this year’s Farnborough International Airshow. It uses a directed energy weapon to take out over 50 hostile drones per flight.
The problem with countering drone warfare is that it’s a bit too much like dealing with mosquitos. Killing one is relatively easy – so long as it isn’t one of the maddening ones that buzz around your ear at night when you’re trying to sleep – but when they come in swarms, they become a very real problem.
There’s no panacea for this, only a layer of solutions to filter out the threat in depth until it ceases to exist, and one of these has been the use of high-energy microwaves to fry or neutralize the electronics of incoming drones. This is effective because microwaves can cover whole areas at a time, and the beams travel at the speed of light, which is an obvious advantage.
However, until now, such direct energy weapons have been large, ground-based systems that often rely on radio valves and radar systems to operate. In contrast, MORFIUS is an airborne platform that flies about, hunting down hostile drones instead of acting as a fixed-point defense. The company claims that not only can a single charge allow it to take over 50 drones per flight, but the aircraft is recoverable, so it can be recharged, refueled and sent out again multiple times, making it cost-effective.
Because the X-rotor MORFIUS relies on neither dedicated ground sensors nor command and control systems, integrating it into existing systems is a simple task.
“MORFIUS sets a new benchmark for counter-drone capability – delivering a high kill rate while keeping the cost per kill low,” said Randy Crites, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Advanced Programs. “By leveraging a lightweight, field reusable high-power microwave architecture, we provide the most effective, low-cost solution on the market today and demonstrate Lockheed Martin’s ability to field innovative, affordable technologies at the speed our American and allied troops need.”
Source: Lockheed Martin
