Circuit breakers: how microwaves can knock drones out of the sky

断路器:微波如何将无人机从空中击落

Babbage from The Economist

2025-06-19

38 分钟

单集简介 ...

The evolution of drone technology in warzones, such as Ukraine, is showing no signs of slowing. But as drones have become more capable, the traditional ways to bring them down—such as electronic jamming or physically firing shots at them—are becoming less effective. Engineers have therefore had to get creative. Several companies are dreaming up devices that emit microwave radiation with the aim of disabling the electronics of drones. Could they really protect people from the threats swarming in the skies above? Host: Alok Jha, The Economist's science and technology editor. Contributors: Thomas Withington of RUSI; Andy Lowery of Epirus; The Economist's Benjamin Sutherland.  For more on Ukraine's drone war, listen to “The Weekend Intelligence: Inside Operation Spider Web”. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.
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单集文稿 ...

  • Drones have transformed warfare.

  • In a recent operation deep inside Russia,

  • Ukrainians managed to damage multiple warplanes using fleets of drones that emerged from what looked like shipping containers.

  • President Zelensky said his forces used 117 drones in strikes on Russian air bases targeting warplanes,

  • including strategic bombers.

  • He has carried out coordinated drone attacks at several military air bases across Russia as far away as eastern Siberia.

  • At least 40 Russian aircraft were hit.

  • Ukraine says Operation Spiderweb caused $7 billion in damage.

  • As drones have become more capable, soldiers have used various ways to bring them down.

  • Electronic jamming is one method.

  • This stops drones from receiving instructions from their operators.

  • Shotguns are another.

  • But more sophisticated and more comprehensive methods are also in the works.

  • We need a layered defense, meaning, hey,

  • I don't care about if there's a thousand or ten thousand drones.

  • I'm going to put a whole sector of the sky under some field of electromagnetic energy that when consumer electronics enter it,

  • they stop working.

  • Andy Lowry is an engineer and the founder of a company called Epirus.

  • And therefore I can put a shield or a force field.

  • up in a section around whatever critical asset I'm trying to protect.