The Mosow Radio Engineering Institute has developed a super-high frequency (SHF) ‘cannon’.

From what I gather this is a mircowave weapon that is an a2/ad system. It is a point defence system with a range of 10km that may be able to defend against swarm drones, missiles, ect. It looks like it may not even be a real weapon but an r&d item to test Russian aircraft and other weapons against EW systems that the US may already have in use.

There is not a lot of info on this system. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places? Maybe I can find out more info on this thing by looking at EW systems found on US craft such ad the f-35 and growler?

missilethreat.com...

^ this is a great site for missile and missile defence news.

a reply to: alphastrike101

I guess we can expect a lot of whale and dolphin beachings now, along with cats and dogs running for their lives.

Sounds like Tesla's defense shield. This would be old news by now I think, they were working on Tesla's systems decades ago. Maybe the Russians put out info just like America, a little late or not enough. Either way, they probably had it working years ago.

a reply to: w8tn4it

The article says it will not be operational for some time but a prototype will be on display at a Russian military convention next year.

From my understanding microwave directed energy weapons have been toiled with for decades by multiple nations, but only seem to work at such close ranges that they are pointless.

Could you explain the similarity between the tesla system and this?

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: alphastrike101

I guess we can expect a lot of whale and dolphin beachings now, along with cats and dogs running for their lives.

If they hit a fault line or a mountain I wonder if there is an effect.

a reply to: char-lee

What do you mean, microwaves can't do nothing to the mountain, it just gets absorbed.

originally posted by: PredatorCrackling
a reply to: char-lee

What do you mean, microwaves can't do nothing to the mountain, it just gets absorbed.

I only read

super-high frequency

originally posted by: PredatorCrackling
a reply to: char-lee

What do you mean, microwaves can't do nothing to the mountain, it just gets absorbed.

I agree. At most they will slightly warm up the surface. Same thing with a fault line. They may slightly warm up the surface of the fault line.

a reply to: alphastrike101

It sounds like a ground based version of CHAMP, which allows for it to fire more than a few times like that one can. HPMs are going to be the new area denial weapons. They're effective as hell against targets they can hit, and a slow moving UAV is an easy target. So is a fairly slow, low flying cruise missile.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ah finally some real discussion.

I remember reading about the Boeing high powered microwave drone/missile. I see they are basically built on the same ideas.

I wonder if RAM coatings would help as counterdefences for SHF?

Do you think that this system would fry a HARM? My guess at a good counter to this would be to reflect the waves back at the system and fry it with its own waves.
Clearly the USAF knows this tech very well. I wonder if a HARM can be turned to an analog setting when it enters the kill zone of this system. Or if wave guards could bounce these waves right back at the system sending them.

a reply to: alphastrike101

RAM would work for the detection, yes. A missile like HARM though is already pretty hard to detect, just because it's got such a small cross section. But that's where things get interesting.

A system like this is certainly not going to be alone in the field. They'll have at worst S300 batteries, as well as their CIWS batteries around it. So you're going to have to have a way to detect it, and then kill it, while getting through the layered defenses.

a reply to: Zaphod58

So the SHF is different enough from radar waves that RAM would not absorbe the microwaves? And different enough that a HARM would not lock on to the mircrowaves themselves only the detection waves?

Of course the Russians have respectable layered defences. HARMs supported by MALDs I hope would be as effective as advertised.
But it sounds like this SHF system would need to be delt with before MALDs could enter the 10km zone around the SHF system.

a reply to: alphastrike101

They're different, and the frequency level involved is much higher than a radar beam. RAM would absorb some of it, but it would overpower the ability to absorb all of it, from what I understand. From what I've heard of it, it still uses a radar to detect and target, and then uses an HPM to fire on it. So the detection beam is the same as we've seen on all area denial systems. Now if they could use an optical tracking system, with an offset radar, this thing would be brutal.

Personally, I'd go with MALD, paired with Weasels for the SAMs, and helicopter gunships for the HPM system. Those can stay behind trees and hills and still target it with Hellfires.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I see.

Now now, what about about collecting these micro waves in a wave guard and sending them right back at this system or other systems guarding it.
Or would a parabolic antennae be able to send the micro waves back or at least deflect them. Maybe gold playing?

a reply to: alphastrike101

From what I've heard about HPMs from the people I've talked to, it would be a stone cold bitch to do something along those lines. Even if you could, by the time it got back to the transmitter, the power levels would have dropped off quite a bit.

Raytheon's Vigilant Eagle. The Rooskies are a bit late.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: alphastrike101

But it does seem straight forward to at least deflect the waves. I would think that it is not too difficult to harden most any craft to this type of EW.

Was the f-35 not hardened from such waves in the first place to protect it from fellow f-35s?

It looks like this system can only address one threat at a time, is that correct?

originally posted by: Zaphod58


I wonder how many drones constitute a swarm attack? And how long it would take to disable such a drone given realistic power levels of this current system

edit on 17-6-2015 by alphastrike101 because: (no reason given)

a reply to: alphastrike101

They're hardened against EMP/EMI to a certain level. HPM is similar but different and can go higher than they can protect against.

It looks like one target at a time.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: alphastrike101

They're hardened against EMP/EMI to a certain level. HPM is similar but different and can go higher than they can protect against.

It looks like one target at a time.

I see so this system does not seem to change the logic of old fashion saturation. Time on target would be a critical piece of info to calculate number requirements of a saturation strike.