At a March 11 soccer game in Wuhan, China, police faced a new kind of threat: drones trespassing near the stadium. Their response was to use a new kind of weapon: an anti-drone gun that jammed the control signals, forcing the trespassing drones to land automatically.
Given China’s role as a global leader in consumer drone and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) exports, it only makes sense that China is also developing a range of anti-drone capabilities to stop unauthorized or hostile flying robots from coming over sensitive or vulnerable sites. In the case of Wuhan, the cell phone jammer “guns”—known as such not just because they “shoot” but also because they look like an assault rifle—cost approximately $19,000, and can reportedly jam control signals up to a kilometer away (though that figure assumes that the user has exceptional aim). Impressed with its capabilities, Wuhan police intend to buy more.
The most active and enthusiastic GPS signal jammer in America is also on the government payroll, but uses the technology legally. It’s the U.S. military, which periodically jams GPS around bases for military exercises. For example, in 2016, it jammed GPS for 500 miles around White Sands in New Mexico for 3 days so that first responders from across the country could practice operating when their signals were jammed up.
The Register claimed the GPS blackout was needed to test a “Massive GPS jamming weapon.” A Navy spokesperson couldn’t confirm or deny that, saying the military doesn’t comment on what testing is for. But it’s more likely that it was simply to give soldiers exposure to what it would be like operating in a scenario where GPS signals were lost.
Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, would only describe the devices given to the Iraqis as “jammers.” Dorrian has previously said that U.S forces advising and training the Iraqis have their own jammers to counter drones.
An apparently different type of anti-drone weapon spotted in Iraq is DroneDefender, made by Battelle, which resembles an assault rifle but features a directed energy frequency jammer mounted on the frame. It has a range of about 400 yards and works by disrupting the links to the drone controller or GPS device.