By Kyle Mizokami
A leading U.S. Army general has revealed a multi-million-dollar air defense missile was recently used to shoot down a consumer-grade quadcopter drone. The downing calls into question the adequacy of government anti-drone defenses worldwide and a lack of cost-effective responses to the emerging weaponized drone threat.
The incident was announced by General David Perkins at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force symposium in Alabama. A former brigade commander who led the famous "Thunder Run" into Baghdad in 2003, Perkins now leads the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.
The Islamic State has been using quadcopters for reconnaissance and lately rigging them to drop hand grenades and other small explosive munitions. They are typically available from sites such as Amazon, costing $200 and up.The Patriot missile, meanwhile, was originally designed in the 1970s to provide air defense over U.S. Army units. Patriot first came to prominence in 1991, when it was used to shoot down several Scud missiles fired at U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, the success of which is disputed. The version of the missile used in the incident, PAC-2, costs between $2 and $4 million each.
Perkins didn't provide any details, but there were several places the whole thing could have taken place. It could have been a Hezbollah or Hamas drone shot down by Israel, or a Houthi rebel drone shot down by the United Arab Emirates.
On technical grounds, the shootdown is impressive. Although Patriot PAC-2 missiles a range of nearly 100 miles, but quadcopters fly quite low to the ground, a few hundred feet up and rarely more than a few thousand. A quadcopter also has a tiny radar signature that can be difficult to pick out. The tiny consumer drone is almost certainly the smallest target ever engaged by Patriot.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a25694/patriot-shot-down-quad-expensive/
