Hunting Killer Drones With Your Father’s 12-Gauge?

Authored by Mike Fredenburg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Ukraine-Russia war and its innovative use of drones has significantly changed warfare. And while the use of drones as spotters for artillery and bombs is arguably their biggest contribution to death and destruction, Telegram is full of chilling FPV footage of kamikaze drones blowing up soldiers and equipment. Among the many measures being used to protect men and equipment from drone attacks is the shotgun, which along with being used by individual soldiers, is also being mounted on both ground and aerial platforms to provide defense against drones.

The drones these shotguns are being used to defend against are most often cheap and fragile. Sure, even cheap quadcopter-style drones are faster than a foot soldier and faster than most military ground vehicles, but at 30 to 46 mph they fly at the same speed, or slower than many game birds. A good example of a widely used commercial drone that is regularly weaponized is the $3,000 DJI Mavic 3. It weighs just under two pounds and has a no-load (no weapon) max level flight speed of 46 mph with a max flight time of 41 minutes. That means it is slower than a duck, a pigeon, quail, pheasant, or even a turkey. And when weighed down with an explosive device it is even slower, and its endurance and range greatly reduced.

Still, just as it is well-nigh impossible to shoot game birds flying at 50 to 70 mph with a rifle, so it is extremely difficult to hit a drone with an assault rifle that is flying at you to blow you up. That is why an increasing number of soldiers have taken to carrying shotguns with them to be used as a last-ditch defense to shoot down incoming kamikaze drones as well as FPV drones, positioning themselves over the soldiers to drop grenades on them.

With this in mind, Ukraine bought 4,000 BTS-12 bullpup mag-fed shotguns to provide some of its soldiers with last-ditch line of defense against drones. Beyond the BTS-12, Ukrainian soldiers have been using the Safari HG-105M and the Benelli M4 A.I. Drone Guardian, whose design gives it more range and more penetration. Russia is also equipping its troops with a variety of shotguns, including the 20-round AK-style VEPR-12, and the MR-155, a more traditional semi-auto shotgun that can hold eight rounds.

Furthermore, shotgun rounds optimized to destroy drones have also been developed. An example of these rounds are two rounds developed by Rostec. In brief, these shotgun shells are loaded with pellets whose size is optimized for destroying drones. And because drones are made of metal and hard plastics, the pellets themselves are harder than those used against game birds. One of the rounds has chemicals that allow it to act as a tracer. Such tracer rounds can be very effective in guiding follow-on rounds into an attacking drone.

Russian soldiers desperately dealing with the onslaught of drones have developed mini shotgun shells for their AK-74 assault rifles. Using this modification, each AK-74 round fired delivers seven 0.177-inch BB-sized steel bearings downrange. This means a seven-round burst puts just under 50 steel pellets downrange with muzzle velocities much greater than that of a shotgun. While some Western writers have dismissed this innovation as being irrelevant, such dismissals are not supported with evidence. Another Ak-74 modification is to enable under-barrel grenade launchers to fire a single 12-gauge shotgun round. While this is hardly the ultimate drone defense, it is better than firing rifle rounds and is yet another example of shotgun type devices being used to defend against drones.

But the use of shotguns goes well beyond the weapons individual soldiers can carry into battle. Both Ukraine and Russia have developed drones carrying shotguns to shoot down other drones. In a recent case, a larger Ukrainian drone mounting shotguns was videoed shooting down three Russian UAVs. Russian defense contractor Almaz-Antey has developed a unique and inexpensive drone that features a 10-round, fully automatic, VEPR-12 shotgun in a stabilized mount designed to shoot down drones.

Russia is also mounting shotguns on some of its vehicles. This includes deploying anti-drone guns with 24 shotgun barrels on a single mount on its tactical buggies. Such a setup can put a very large and dense cloud of hundreds of damaging pellets into the path of oncoming drones.

However, while shotguns have the potential to be at least somewhat effective against drones, they will not have any chance to be effective unless soldiers know the drone is targeting them, can spot the drone, accurately target it, and do all of this in a matter of seconds. And it also requires the right kind of tactics.

Here is a very brief example pulled from a Ukrainian Special Forces Command report analyzing Russia’s efforts to adapt modern-day drone warfare. In brief, Russian troops will be equipped with a passive detector using acoustic and electromagnetic detection that can detect and track drones to 1,000 meters off. Once aware of the threatening drone(s), Russian soldiers can orient themselves to be ready to engage the drone(s) with their various types of shotgun type weapons as well and any other drone countermeasures they have available. Russian command is also recommending placing a dedicated shooter with a shotgun at the back of every military vehicle near the front lines in case electronic warfare systems fail to disable the flying explosives.

Though the above example involves Russian troops, it does lay out some very basic aspects of what effective drone defense must embody. Ultimately, shotguns are only one of many ways warfighters can defend themselves against drones, but given enough warning of a pending drone attack, they provide a last-ditch defense well worth employing.

And yes, your father’s double barreled 12-gauge shotgun in the hands of a skilled soldier who sees the drone coming absolutely, positively has a good chance to take it out.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.