The attacks that the hutis of Yemen They make against ships in the Red Sea and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait since October 2023, and the protection granted by the United States along with other countries in the Guardian operation of prosperitythey have put the call on the table ‘Cost curve problem’. That is, the disproportion of the cost among the expensive means used by the US to repel the drones, much cheaper, used in the attacks from Yemen.
According to The War Zone, the United States Navy is looking for reduce costs of these clashes with the use of Two new destroyers of the Arleight Burke class that will be deployed at the end of this summer.
‘We are going to display the Ford attack group (led by Superportaavions Uss Gerald R. Ford) with Two additional missile systems in our destroyers: The system Roadrunner (Roadrunches, in Spanish) and the system Coyoteboth specifically designed to pursue unmanned aerial vehicles, ‘said the admiral DarylCaudleCommander of the United States Fleet forces.
The missiles SM-2of which the navy has fired 120 In the first 15 months of operations at the Red Sea, they have a cost of 2.5 million dollars per unit. The SM-6of those who have used 80they cost 4.27 million each. In total, and adding other types of missiles, he has spent More than 500 million dollars in missiles against the hutis. The cost of a coyote system is only $ 100,000.
‘Those two systems … are part of that attempt to go after the cost curve, give our officers in command to face the threat and, ultimately, be more effective in the defense of the high value unit‘, the captain told journalists Mark Lawrencecommander of the destroyer squad whose ships will use the new systems, on March 21.
The Captain Ronald Flandersspokesman for the Marine Research and Procurement Department, explained that ‘both systems were originally designed for land use; however, The US Navy has proven and demonstrated these systems in the maritime environment‘.
This is the ‘Roadrunches’, the first explosive weapon recoverable to the world
The interceptor Roadrunner-M It was presented by the manufacturer Anduril Industries at the end of 2023, after 2 years of development. Last October, the company obtained a contract of 250 million dollars With the United States Department of Defense in which they are included More than 500 Roadrunner-M. This drone, similar to a missile, is qualified by the manufacturer as a Aav (Autonomous Air Vehicle or Autonomous Air Vehicle) Modular with Twin Turbojet engines that offers extraordinary performance at low cost.
The ability to Vertical take -off and landing (Vtol, for its acronym in English) gives you the flexibility of being able to launch from any location and return quickly, combining a high subsonic speed with exceptional maneuverability and stability.
It is an AAV with a length of 1.8 meters Designed for the future. The modular payload system can transport a variety of loads to meet a wide range of missions and can be constantly updated To face future threats. Its specifications are not public, but it is known that you can use an explosive eye for intercept UAS, cruise missiles and manned aircraft.
Roadrunches has two variants: Roadrunnerfor use in Civil Missions as detection and extinction of fire, and Roadrunner-Mdestined to military use. This interceptor for terrestrial air defense can identify, intercept and destroy aerial threats or be recovered and reused at an almost zero cost.
Anduril has described this drone as The first recoverable explosive weapon. The Roadrunner-M can take off, follow and intercept distant objectives to the first indication of danger, giving operators more information and time to evaluate the objective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al9itep4fua
If there is no need to destroy it, Roadrunner-M can return to the base and land in a predesign location for immediate refueling and reuse. If the goal is to destroy, Roadrunner-M can also do it quickly, but, unlike traditional missile systems, any launched roadrunner can be reused that does not culminate the attack. This approach allows large -scale defensive launches at a low cost and improves the ability to face multiple objectives simultaneously.
According to Anduril, the innovations of Roadrunner-M include faster launch and take-off times, three times the warning load capacity, ten times the effective scope of a single route and three times more maneuverability in force g compared to similar offers in the market.
This is the Coyote C-Uas
The coyote is a C-UAS, initial in English of countermeasures against non-manned air systems, which has the ability to Operate in autonomous swarms and whose objective is to intercept other unmanned aerial vehicles. Its development began in the American company Advanced Ceramic Research In the first decade of this century and was introduced into 2014. Raytheon acquired the company in 2015 and, since then, has produced several versions.
The main ones are known as Block 2propelled by a reaction engine and uses a high explosion eye to destroy objectives, and Block 3based on the original propeller design, driven by electric motor and that carries ‘non -kinetic’ not specified that could include electronic warfters.
The coyote is cheap to produce thanks to what Use commercially available components. In 2021, Raytheon announced that a Block 3 coyote had used a Non -kinetic eye To defeat a swarm of 10 drones In an air interception test. This type of payload reduces possible collateral damage and allows to recover and reuse the variant.
At the end of 2023 the United States intention was known to acquire more Coyote Raytheon drones: 6,000 of the type block 2 and 700 of the type block 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRRSCXNDFRK
The coyote measures 60 cm long and 14 wideand shoot from a pneumatic cash pitcher with a maximum speed of 130 km/h. Weight 5.9 kg and offers a kinetic effect when crashing against enemy drones or exploding near them, dispersing the explosion fragments of their 1.8 kg eye. Its autonomy is from one hour and its interchangeable useful load capacity also allows you to use it in missions of ISRacronym in English of intelligence, surveillance and recognition. According to Raytheon, the coyote has more rank and reaches more altitude than other similar proposals.