The Poor Man’s SHTF UCAV (Armed Drone)

​The term “drone” has become synonymous with Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, or UCAV, and small UCAVs have become common in modern warfare. Small, modern consumer drone has become a staple of irregular warfare. Cartels have mounted automatic weapons on drones and ISIS used them to drop bombs on their enemies. No longer a plaything or innovative camera platform, drones will be used in any domestic conflict in the United States.
To date, irregular forces have used drones for:

• Video has been used for propaganda purposes including showing successful attacks.
• Battle damage assessment (BDA) and casualty confirmation.
• General surveillance and reconnaissance.
• Studying attacks, defenses, and responses.
• Delivery of explosives.

Armed drones will become more than the American insurgent’s eye in the sky but his precision guided munition too. Latin American drug cartels are using these to deliver IEDs, often using a second drone to provide surveillance and guidance. One drone bomb was C4 and ball bearings pressed into a Tupperware plastic container. Some of these devices have been dropped like bombs while others have landed devices either as warnings or to emplace them for later detonation.
ISIS often dropped munitions out of a plastic tube when released remotely by a servo motor. 40mm grenades were popular with ISIS as they were light and could be lofted easily by consumer Quadcopters. Larger drones can drop 60mm and 81mm mortar bombs. Homemade bombs often using plastic explosive have been seen in Latin American cartel wars and in the Middle East. Weapons don’t need to be dropped; a more accurate strike, at the cost of the drone, can be delivered in a kamikaze attack involving terminal guidance to the target and detonation.
Payloads depend on speed and range required. Maximum payload for a large quadcopter is about 4-5lbs. Optimal payloads are on average half a pound or less, up to 1.25lbs or half a kilo. About 1lb of C4 explosive is enough to destroy a truck. Bare explosives can be studded with ball bearings or other metal to create shrapnel; however, this may take the weight limit over what small drones can carry.
            In addition to the above discussed surveillance and reconnaissance roles, armed drones will be used in direct combat. Area fire that is ordinarily accomplished in militaries by mortars, artillery, and grenade launchers will be done by drone. Americans just won’t have access to these weapons the same way that Afghans and Iraqis did. Explosive armed drones themselves may be flown directly into targets and detonated in the same manner as militaries employ missiles.
            Drones may be used in the following manner to kill:

• Dual drone operations: Drone 1 overflies a target, performing reconnaissance. The same drone or another returns and delivers a hand grenade or explosive.
• Grenades or explosives may be dropped like an aerial bomb or the drone can be terminally guided into the target before detonation. Drone attacks should be considered precision attacks.
• A second explosive may be detonated to kill those responding to the chaos of the first attack.
• Unarmed drones may act in a suppression role by mimicking the attack pattern of an armed drone.

 
Immediate action drills
 

• Upon the approach of a drone, seek the nearest cover and freeze. Try to pick a place where you will be unseen by the drone and have adequate overhead and lateral cover from weapons fire.
• Civilians should take cover indoors under stout cover.
• Observe the drone. Determine its type and if it is carrying a payload (guns or bombs). Photograph it if possible.
• Wait until it leaves the area to resume normal operations, if possible.
• If it is within your capabilities and the drone is within range, you may attempt to shoot it down.
• Drone operators should be regarded as snipers and handled accordingly.

 
Shooting down drones
 
Shotgun drone shootdowns are not uncommon. To date, it has largely been on the range, by an annoyed neighbor, or by an angry man who caught the drone peeping. Based on the limited information provided, these drones were close and not attempting to evade. Drones engaged in combat operations will try to remain as distant as possible and should evade, making a shootdown more difficult.
Drones are designed to be lightweight and thus quite fragile. They can be easily damaged by high velocity projectiles. Any impact may cause the drone to lose orientation and crash; the more violent the better. Shotgun shells may be the best chance at shooting down a drone at low level and a good skeet or trap shooter should be the one to make the attempt.
Range, altitude, and the drone’s speed will all factor into the ability to hit it as much as the ability of the shooter, the gun, and the ammunition used. Wind, temperature, and altitude can affect range as well.
Birdshot: No. 8 shot is reported to be effective, but at an unknown altitude and range. Magnum shells and specialty loads may have additional capabilities.
Buckshot: Because buckshot has more mass, it has a horizontal range of up to around 75 yards. The greater mass would cause more damage to a drone.
            Specialty shells: 12 gauge Skynet Drone Defense ammunition, a three-pack retails for $20-25 as of this writing. The shell contains six weighted tethers in a star shape that is designed to entangle the rotors of the drone, causing it to crash via loss of control and lift.
Other weapons: A .177 air rifle pellet took down a drone. A felon shot down a police drone with a .22 rifle.[1] There is nothing that would rule out using an AR-15 or other type of weapon or cartridge over a drone.
Jamming works by either overriding the control signal or depriving the drone from receiving GPS signals. Jammers may be difficult to purchase due to shipping restrictions and price. Some devices capable of drone or GPS jamming are available out of the box and do not require extensive technical expertise but may suffer from low signal strength and poor antennas. One such product is the Hack RF One with additional aftermarket antennas and software. Homemade models can be built if one has the technical expertise.
 
Drone air-to-air combat
 
            Shooting down a drone with a gun is not going to work against a pilot who is anticipating anti-drone fire, actively evades, flies smartly, and keeps the drone out of range. This means that the fight will need to be taken to the offending drone. Anti-drone air superiority will become a thing.
All combat is about what happens on the ground. Aircraft were first used in military applications for reconnaissance, then bombing. Naturally, the countermeasure was to develop fighter planes that specialized in shooting down aircraft. While fighter vs. fighter combat has captured the imagination and hearts of fighter pilots all over the world, the actual job of air superiority is to deny the airspace to the enemy. If fighter jets are waiting to shoot down his bombers and transport planes, he can’t use his air force to support his ground troops or attack the enemy.
Though it would be expensive to have a lot of remote control planes and drones, it is possible to use drones against drones. Note however that one would have to fly their remote control aircraft physically into the drone to knock it out of the sky. For your small UCAV, this will be a suicide mission.
A light and cheap drone that can climb to a decent altitude and fly fast would probably be ideal. Practice can be done with easily repairable drones. An experienced drone pilot may be able to accomplish a mid-air collision without much rehearsal. The kinetic impact should be all that is required to crash most consumer quadcopter types. Once downed, the wrecked drone should be captured for intelligence exploit or an ambush can be setup to wait for the enemy’s recovery attempt.
 
Bottom line 
            Are you likely to be killed by a drone?[2] It is highly unlikely. In a future destabilized America immersed in urban combat, most deaths will be caused by famine and disease, followed by gunfire, as in most wars. Drones will be problematic mostly as a reconnaissance and command & control tool. I would be more worried about a looting gang launching a drone to see who is asleep before the 3 AM attack than I am someone flying a drone with C4 through my bedroom window.
 
Note: this an adaptation from my non-fiction book Suburban Warfare: A cop's guide to surviving a civil war, SHTF, or modern urban combat, available on Amazon.


[1] US Attorney's Office press release, "Lake County Convicted Felon Indicted For Illegal Firearm Possession And Destruction Of Aircraft," October 13, 2021.

[2] A civilian, consumer drone, not a government one, that is.