This weapon of the week is the Paladin Multi-Mission Unmanned Aircraft System from the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). It functions more as a drone interceptor to help the U.S. Air Force protect its manned aircraft systems.
The Air Force wants these particularly in areas with large populations living around the base, such as the Nellis Base in Las Vegas or the Langley Base in Virginia.
“We’re not going after anything big,” AFRL’s Counter UAS Technical Director Brendon Poland said. “And generally, everything’s either commercial or it’s how assembled by hobbyists operating in the national airspace.”
The Paladin is described as a fully autonomous “wingman.” It is equipped with a UAS detector and a loudspeaker for when a verbal warning could be effective. It is also armed with a Benelli M4 shotgun, so the operator has both a defensive and offensive advantage over intruders.
“It’s a net round, that’s very safe, and so employed in the air, it only has an effective range of about 20 meters,” Poland said. “The system isn’t just going to go out and shoot down a drone and it falls wherever. The system will go out, follow an aircraft, identify what it is — we’ll try to mitigate it in other ways. Get over an area where there’s no people below it, and then if we have to engage, we can engage in those safe areas where if it drops to the ground, it’s not going to hurt anybody.”
AFRL said the Paladin is in late-stage developments and will be going through an operational assessment during fiscal year 2025. Following that assessment, plans for delivery and implementation will be made.
Access the full Weapons and Warfare episode here.
Access all Weapons and Warfare podcast episodes here.