The US company Northrop Grumman is developing a multi-stage air defense system (ADF) to protect against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the main element of which will be a machine gun with self-guided ammunition.
Military conflicts in recent years have revealed the shortcomings of traditional air defense missile systems, such as high production costs and complexity of transportation. On the other hand, cheap UAVs have become the main tool in air combat, forcing military headquarters to quickly adapt to new realities.
The concept of echelon defense involves the use of different means to intercept threats at different distances from the target. The CBAD (Chain Gun-Based Air Defense) system developed by Northrop Grumman is the embodiment of this concept. CBAD includes long-range missiles to intercept supersonic and hypersonic missiles, as well as large, medium and small caliber artillery systems.
The peculiarity of CBAD is the use of “smart” projectiles with remote detonators. These projectiles head towards the target, explode on impact and shower the target with fragments, which increases efficiency and significantly reduces the cost of the system. According to the chief engineer of the project, Ryan Carlson, the CBAD system significantly reduces the number of shots required to hit a target and ensures high accuracy and economy.
The CBAD artillery battery costs half as much as an anti-aircraft battery and 99.5% less than a missile complex. At the same time, it has a larger ammunition set, consisting of 200-400 shells, compared to 2-6 missiles in anti-aircraft missile systems. The first tests of the CBAD system at the test site are scheduled for the end of this year.
At the same time, Northrop Grumman announced the successful static ignition test of the upper stage’s C50HP (Common 50 High-Performance) solid rocket engine. This engine will be a key component of the Next Generation Intercept (NGI) system, which is designed to protect the USA from intercontinental ballistic missiles.
