In Canada's drone-killing 'Sandbox,' companies compete for a $1M prize
Machines do battle as Canada seeks to turbocharge drone, counter-drone industries
The Suffield Research Centre is in the heart of Alberta's Big Sky country, and is also blessed with Canada's sunniest skies, making it the perfect testing ground for one of Canada's most critical areas of innovation: drone and counter-drone technology.
asserted
it → kill → innovation
Once the main training ground for the tank crews of the British Army, the British gradually withdrew and left entirely by 2024.
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British → withdraw → 2024
But today, the base is buzzing with activity as militaries urgently rearm with new technologies.
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militaries → buzz → technologies
Even the British are back, in smaller numbers for now, and not to drive tanks but fly drones — and shoot them down.
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British → drive → them
Canada's Department of National Defence this month used Suffield to hold its fourth Counter-Uncrewed Aircraft Sandbox, a drone-killing contest with a million-dollar prize for the most promising innovation.
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Department → use → innovation
Companies from Canada, Australia, Finland and the U.S. showcased new methods of detecting and intercepting drones, closely watched by members of the Canadian, Dutch, German, British, American and Ukrainian militaries.
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Companies → showcase → militaries
All of the armies are there to learn and observe.
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All → learn → armies
But the Ukrainians, as the only military at the Sandbox with real-world experience in drone warfare, are also there to teach.
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Ukrainians → teach → warfare
"They're creating the environment that we want to emulate," said Col. Gabriel Doré of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
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Doré → create → Force
They're the ones who are innovating the fastest.
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who → innovate → ?
And they can tell us immediately if something's going to work or not just by looking at it, because they're living it."
Learning from the experts
The conflict in Ukraine has turbocharged the pace of scientific innovation in all forms of drone warfare: aerial, ground-based, marine surface and underwater.
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conflict → tell → warfare
There are now even drones that can transition from underwater to aerial flight.
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that → be → flight
"We need to be the number one in drones to fight against Russia," said Ukrainian Army Maj. Sergiy Kuzyara.
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Kuzyara → need → Russia
Kuzyara said those drones include cheap, simple first-person view (FPV) quadcopter drones used on the front lines to marine drones to "deep-strike drones which are reaching Russian refineries or military production plants."
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which → say → refineries
Kuzyara says his mission in Canada is not only to check out the latest designs, but also "help your producers to understand what's needed at the front line, what direction they need to go to be successful."
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they → say → direction
Radio-frequency jammers that were cutting-edge tech at the 2022 CUAS Sandbox would already be obsolete on Ukraine's front lines, where jamming is so intense that drone operators have given up almost entirely on radio remote control, opting instead to guide their drones through hair-thin fibre-optic wires trailing from spools many kilometres long.
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operators → give → spools
Some of the technology showcased this year at the Sandbox would not be practical in Ukraine's direct combat zones — although useful for other applications.
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Some → showcase → applications
Signals jamming influences every aspect of the drone war in Ukraine.
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jamming → influence → Ukraine
Ukrainian Army Lt-Col. Maxim Velychenko says satellite-powered navigation (such as GPS) is also jammed on the front lines.
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navigation → say → lines
Kamikaze drones go jet-powered
One example of the frenetic pace of innovation in the drone war: the feared Iranian Shahed drones — fixed-wing kamikaze drones that can travel over 2,000 kilometres — have undergone a recent threatening upgrade.
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that → go → upgrade
"We know how to shoot down the Shaheds powered by the internal combustion engines," said Kuzyara.
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Kuzyara → know → engines
"But they switched to jet-powered and so we need to use something new: jet-powered interceptors or missiles."
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we → switch → something
The new Shaheds are sometimes mixed with the older kind in what Kuzyara calls a "tricky" manoeuvre to deceive air defence crews — flying together at about 180 kilometres per hour before the jet-powered drones more than double their speed to attack.
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drones → mix → speed
Firefighters work at the site of Ukraine's Academy of Sciences building hit by a Russian jet-powered drone strike last month.
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Firefighters → work → strike
Paul Ziadé thinks he has the solution.
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he → think → solution
He's designed a metre-long, laser-guided missile with the jet-powered Shahed in mind.
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He → design → mind
"Our missile does not need to achieve a direct hit on the target," he said.
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he → need → target
"Similar to many other air defence missiles, all we need to do is get to the proximity of the threat and then the warhead takes care of the rest.
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warhead → need → rest
Unlike other air defence missiles, however, this prototype is designed to defeat drones — and is both smaller and cheaper.
In the test witnessed by CBC News, North Vector's missile almost brushed a target drone, considered a kill for a weapon that carries a proximity fuse and uses a warhead to blast a forward-conical explosion.
Having shown its ability to connect with the target, the next round of testing will likely include the warhead.
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round → design → warhead
Cost a critical factor
Weapons already exist that can reliably destroy even a jet-powered Shahed.
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that → cost → Shahed
At the start of the U.S. and Israel-Iran war, the United States and Gulf kingdoms were forced to use Patriot PAC-3 missiles ($5 million Cdn each) and other expensive interceptors to defeat much cheaper Iranian drones.
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States → force → drones
Ukraine has succeeded in inventing lower-cost interceptors, but jet-powered drones such as the new Shahed and the Geran-5 have forced the use of pricier alternatives.
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drones → succeed → alternatives
Cost is critical, says Doré.
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Doré → say → ?
"Otherwise it's really easy to send a bunch of drones our way that's going to make us, you know, use very exquisite, very expensive systems," he said.
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he → send → systems
"We're going to empty our magazines very rapidly."
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We → go → magazines
Reducing cost-per-shot and ensuring you don't run out of firepower are key goals of drone developers, with all sides expecting to see more drone "swarms" in the future, and greater use of AI in targeting and guidance.
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sides → reduce → targeting
Armin Strobel of St. John's-based StrobelTEK did a PhD thesis on drone swarms in 2010, when it was still an exotic and little-researched subject.
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it → base → 2010
Today he is competing in the Sandbox as the designer of a cheap, portable optically guided kinetic missile meant to defeat those swarms.
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he → compete → swarms
He told CBC News that fully autonomous attack drones are on the horizon.
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drones → tell → horizon
"There might be some steps in between, but you'll basically just send out drones and say, 'Look for those targets and take care of them.'"
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you → send → them
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
