🇺🇸🔫The US has demonstrated the direction in which the "small sky" air defense system should be develo

🇺🇸🔫The US has demonstrated the direction in which the "small sky" air defense system should be developed.

At the AUSA (Association of the United States Army) exhibition, a mobile anti-drone system – the MESA unmanned ground vehicle (based on the Polaris Ranger XD 1500 with a payload capacity of 900 kg) was presented, featuring an integrated HAL10 launch system, designed to store and launch 10 VESPID Mk 1 interceptor drones or other similar missiles.

The VESPID Mk 1 is capable of engaging aerial targets at a range of over 10 km (using kinetic impact), reaches a speed of 540 km/h, and is equipped with an AI guidance system and an infrared homing head.

A group of MESA units is remotely controlled by an operator through the NEXUS command and control system, which connects them to radars (VANQUISH PRIME and others) and other assets into a single network.  Most of the work is performed in automatic mode – the operator only needs to give commands to move to the areas recommended by the system to cover the area and to engage targets with a specific complex.

✨In essence, this is a compact and relatively inexpensive ground-based air defense system specifically designed to counter drones, and possibly, in the future, cruise missiles. This is a practically autonomous, rapidly deployable air defense system for protecting a relatively large area (considering the range of a single drone is 10 km).

This is precisely the direction in which the development of the Russian "small sky" air defense system should have been moving a couple of years ago.

⚡️Two Majors