Swarms of cheap drones are taking on one of the world’s most sophisticated air defence systems. It’s not clear whether these attacks in Yemen have been successful, but home-made drone swarms targeting highly advanced military technology is a trend that is likely to grow.
The defences in question are US-made PAC-3 Patriot systems. They can bring down ballistic missiles, jets and helicopters by firing 300-kilogram missiles at speeds of up to five times the speed of sound. The systems are used by South Korea, Israel, and various Arab nations, but they may be susceptible to drone swarm attacks.
A PAC-3 battery has only six or eight launchers, and the supply of $3m missiles is limited, so a large enough swarm of drones could overwhelm it. In Yemen’s civil war, Houthi forces backed by Iran claim to have knocked out Patriot missile sites operated by a Saudi-backed coalition, having first destroyed their radar using drones.
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Pentagon spokesperson Rebecca Rebarich told 51¶ŻÂţ that they don’t have any information on this in particular. “However, we have observed Iranian-manufactured and supplied unmanned aerial systems being used by the Houthis against Yemeni government and coalition targets in the past,” says Rebarich.
On 9 February the Houthi forces said they had in Ta’iz province, first hitting it with drones and then destroying it with a ballistic missile. Then on 23 February, the Houthis claimed to have belonging to the United Arab Emirates, this one located east of the city of Marib, with a “swarm of drones” followed by missiles.
Coalition forces have not confirmed that these specific attacks took place, but have said they intercepted missiles on both of those dates. They also say that the Patriot system has successfully intercepted in the Yemen conflict.
The drones used are believed to be Qasef-1s and according to Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based group that tracks the movement of weapons in conflict zones, these are . These have a wingspan of about 3 metres, and perform kamikaze-style attacks while carrying 15 kilograms of explosives.
Satellite imagery after the first attack showed one radar out of action, but this might have been due to maintenance, says Jeremy Binnie, Middle East editor at Jane’s Defence Weekly. “It is possible that Qasef-1s were used to target Patriot radars, but those things are fairly inaccurate, and it is unclear how effective any such attack was at this stage,” he says.
“If indeed Iranian Qasef-1 drones were utilised, it would demonstrate the successful mass use of cheap low-technology airframes – utilising gasoline engines and wood propellers to take out expensive high-technology air defence systems,” says Robert Bunker at the US Army War College’s in Pennsylvania.
It isn’t just in Yemen that swarms of cheap drones might be being used. In January a swarm of home-made drones attacked a Russian airbase in Syria, reportedly causing Russia to deploy miniature Nail missiles to counter future attacks.
