Army tests using a grenade to stop drones with a net
By: Kelsey D. Atherton  
A grenade is not the best way to stop a drone, but a grenade launcher might be. This week, the Army was granted a patent for a net-carrying grenade-sized weapon, designed to work in a standard 40mm launcher, that can ensnare a drone.
Formally a “scalable effects net warhead,†the net grenade could finally provide a countermeasure to cheap drones that’s almost as inexpensive as the drones themselves.
Ensnaring a robot in a net is perhaps the opposite of lethality, but here that’s a selling point — stopping the drone means immediately disabling it and possibly doing a forensic investigation on the drone’s innards afterwards. Bullets can stop drones, but it’s a hard task even at sport shooting competitions and in a real-life application bullets still have to fall somewhere, risking injury to friendly forces and bystanders. Anti-air missiles like the Patriot can also intercept drones, but drones can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars and missiles like the Patriot can cost a few million dollars. Both more-kinetic options can ruin the drone’s circuitry, obliterating any useful clues as to who may have launched the drone.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/02/11/army-tests-using-a-grenade-to-stop-drones-with-a-net/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ARM%2002.11.19&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Army%20-%20Daily%20News%20Roundup
