European gun makers trial small arms as drone stoppers

PARIS — Western gun makers are exploring the potential of small arms to counter small drones, turning cheap and widely available weapons into last-resort defenses against an emerging threat.

The shift is playing out on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, where invading Russian forces and defending Ukrainian soldiers have employed tactics to that effect. Now, other militaries are starting to explore the use case, says Italian gun manufacturer Benelli Armi, owned by the Beretta Holding.

“The use of different types of guns in this capacity in Ukraine has accelerated the demand we get for our shotguns to be sold in a counter-drone configuration – we’ve received a lot of request for information for this from NATO countries,” Mauro Della Costanza, head of sales at Benelli’s defense division, told Defense News at the Eurosatory trade show here.

The company supplies shotguns combined with special drone ammunition, which are already in use with the French and Italian armed forces. Dubbed the ALDA round, short for anti-light drone ammunition, this type of projectile is dedicated to shooting down moving targets such as small drones, weighing less than 25 kilograms, at distances between 80 and 120 meters.

Della Costanza said that the growing interest in using shotguns to neutralize these low-flying threats has to do with the cost-effectiveness and ease of operation these weapons offer to forces.

“Considering the size of these drones and the high price of some of the more complex countermeasures used to shoot them down – a shotgun with 1,000 [of these] rounds is at maximum three thousand euros,” he said.

In a video shared with Defense News of a recent customer trial, one of the company’s shotguns is seen successfully countering a small quadcopter at a distance of 90 meters in a matter of seconds.

Another firearms manufacturer in the counter-drone business is Belgian firm FN Herstal. A company representative told Defense News that the firm began testing suitable weapons several years ago, but that the war in Ukraine has attracted new inquiries.

In March 2022, the company took part in a NATO-led counter-drone exercise in Italy, for which it developed a container-based perimeter defense system incorporating a range of sensors connected to kinetic and non-kinetic effectors.

The hard-kill weaponry included a remote weapon station that can be fitted with medium or heavy machine guns or an automatic grenade launcher with airburst munition, all from the Belgian company’s product line.

When faced with first-person-view exploding drones, soldier-carried infantry weapons may seem like an unlikely defense. But, as one Ukrainian shotgun instructor stated in an interview with Ukrainian state-run news agency ArmyInform, small-arms “are a very good chance compared to running, believe me.”

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

巴黎——西方枪支制造商正在探索小型武器对抗小型无人机的潜力，将廉价且广泛可用的武器变成对抗新兴威胁的最后防线。

这种转变正在乌克兰东部的战场上上演，入侵的俄罗斯军队和保卫的乌克兰士兵都采用了相应的战术。意大利枪械制造商贝内利武器公司（隶属于贝雷塔控股公司）表示，现在其他国家的军队也开始探索这种战术的应用。

“乌克兰使用不同类型的枪支执行此类任务，加速了我们销售反无人机配置霰弹枪的需求——我们收到了来自北约国家的大量信息咨询，”贝内利防务部门销售主管毛罗·德拉·科斯坦扎在本次欧洲防务展上告诉《防务新闻》。

该公司供应的霰弹枪搭配特制无人机弹药，目前法国和意大利军队已在使用这种弹药。这种弹药被称为ALDA弹（反轻型无人机弹药的缩写），专门用于击落80至120米距离内重量小于25公斤的小型无人机等移动目标。

德拉·科斯坦萨表示，人们越来越有兴趣使用霰弹枪来消灭这些低空飞行的威胁，这与这些武器为部队提供的成本效益和易于操作有关。

他说：“考虑到这些无人机的尺寸以及一些更复杂的反制措施的高昂价格——一把装有 1000 发子弹的霰弹枪最多也要 3000 欧元。”

在一段分享给《防务新闻》的近期客户试验视频中，可以看到该公司的一支霰弹枪在几秒钟内成功地在 90 米的距离上击落了一架小型四轴飞行器。

另一家涉足反无人机领域的枪械制造商是比利时公司FN Herstal。该公司一位代表告诉《防务新闻》，该公司几年前就开始测试合适的武器，但乌克兰战争引发了新的咨询。

2022 年 3 月，该公司参加了在意大利举行的由北约领导的反无人机演习，为此，该公司开发了一种基于集装箱的周界防御系统，该系统包含一系列连接到动能和非动能效应器的传感器。

这些强力杀伤性武器包括可安装中型或重型机枪的遥控武器站，或可装填空爆弹药的自动榴弹发射器，所有这些都来自这家比利时公司的产品线。

面对第一人称视角下爆炸的无人机，士兵携带的步兵武器似乎不太可能起到防御作用。但是，正如一位乌克兰霰弹枪教官在接受乌克兰官方通讯社ArmyInform采访时所说，小型武器“比逃跑更有优势，相信我”。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。