The Indian Navy is set to acquire anti-drone equipment called SMASH-2000, Navy chief, Admiral Karambir Singh announced on the eve of Navy Day, on Thursday.
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The SMASH-2000 is an optical system to counter the sUAS. The sUAS usually refers to small, easily available UAVs that can be fitted with a camera to spy on critical installations. There has already been a surge in the usage of such drones in battlefields all across the world, with Chinese companies dominating the market for such products.
Indian Navy is procuring Smash-2000 rifles as anti-drone equipment to protect against attacking drones: Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh pic.twitter.com/WAON6sDkSC
— ANI (@ANI) December 3, 2020
Most of the time these are civilian drones used for aerial photography employed as a cheap alternative to expensive fixed-wing surveillance UAVs.
How This Works
The SMASH-2000 ‘fire control system’ looks like any other expensive optical sight attached to a rifle, but it certainly packs a lot more technology than a casual electro-optic technology. The system is developed by Smart Shooter, a company that has been developing systems to help militaries track and engage moving targets.
It can be mounted on a host of weapons like M4s and Tavors, on which the system has been highly successful in Israel in taking down Gazan drones and IED-balloons.
The smart sight helps identify targets, computes its dynamics, and tells the shooter where to aim to make a hit on the very first shot- even if the drones are moving 120 meters above the ground level. For this, the shooter aims just like any other non-sophisticated sight and locks on the target by pressing a button on the handguard.
SMASH-2000 then computes an optimal point of aim based on bullet trajectory with the help of a camera and laser rangefinder, even taking account of the shooter’s own movements. The shooter makes the shot by manually aligning the crosshairs on the designated point of aim, hitting the target.
As soon as the trigger is squeezed, the system calculates the target’s movement and predicts its next location using advanced image processing and algorithms. SMASH 2000 prevents the bullet from being fired until the target is precisely in its crosshairs.
This system can also be used to hit ground-based enemy personnel. However, its predicted vulnerabilities to cyberwarfare environments and costs involved make the traditional sights a better option for regular infantrymen. No technology can compensate for the inherent shooting skills of a soldier.
Using similar technologies, companies like TrackingPoint have already developed very efficient long-range solutions for snipers.
