In Ukraine, about nine in 10 Russian drones have been shot down by advanced air defences, according to various estimates. Ukrainian air force data suggested that about 15 per cent of drones had penetrated its defences between April and June – rising from just 5 per cent previously. But a group of Chinese aerospace engineers and defence researchers have now proposed a radical technological enhancement for combat drones that may dramatically increase their ability to survive to nearly 90 per cent. At the heart of the proposal was an innovative concept: fitting compact, side-mounted rocket boosters to small or medium-sized drones so they can perform instantaneous, high-G manoeuvres in the final seconds before a missile impact.
According to the researchers, this “terminal evasion” system allowed drones to perform abrupt, unpredictable course changes that even the most sophisticated missiles could not track or follow. In extensive digital simulations detailed in a paper published in the Chinese defence journal Acta Armamentarii last month, the system saw a huge improvement in survival rates, passing 87 per cent. In many cases, the drones effectively caused missiles to detonate harmlessly in empty space. In modern wars, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, combatants have “extensively employed drones for reconnaissance and aerial combat.
wrote the project team led by Bi Wenhao, an associate researcher with the National Key Laboratory of Aircraft Configuration Design in Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian. Chinese military analysts, after studying the war in Ukraine and other areas, “place higher demands on the evasion capability and survivability of unmanned combat aircraft”, the team wrote. Taiwan seals deal for Ukraine combat-tested drone software to counter Beijing Traditionally, drones are expected to make evasive moves long before the missile hits, but this can end their mission.
As an alternative, Bi’s team suggested taking evasive action at the last possible moment. The concept hinges on three critical principles, the first is precise timing, which means the anti-drone missile must ignite within a one to two-second window before impact – early enough to alter trajectory, late enough to deny the missile time to correct. The second is directional intelligence: the system must determine whether to climb, dive, or veer laterally based on the missile’s approach vector. The last of the three is thrust:
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