Air Defense: DRAKE Goes To Sea
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October 19, 2021: The U.S. Navy has long sought a solution to the threat UAVs, especially the small (usually quadcopter) UAVs, ships operating near a coast are threatened with. Recently the navy decided to equip all its surface warships with a proven antidote to these commercial UAVs and is installing DRAKE (Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare) systems on all these ships. DRAKE has been used successfully by ground forces in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan since it was introduced in 2017. The ground troops mounted DRAKE in a hummer and could disable navigation systems in most commercial quadcopters that got within a few hundred meters of DRAKE. This type of electronic signal identification and jamming is common with many similar systems. The larger systems have a range of 4,000 meters or more. DRAKE is deliberately lightweight, weighing nine kg (20 pounds) and can be carried by ground troops operating on foot. Surface ships will have several DRAKE units and one can be always kept active when the ship is in a port where there is risk. DRAKE is part of a growing array of non-lethal gear ships have received since the late 1990s to deal with Islamic terrorist or espionage threats encountered in some ports.
At sea, DRAKE would only be used if a quadcopter gets too close, especially one that appears to be conducting surveillance for nearby hostile forces who want to use the quadcopter to identify the best location on the ship to fire rockets or small guided missiles at.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htada/articles/20211019.aspx
