Simple solution: Proximity fuse on a major explosive. Warn all nations, get too close and you blow up.
“Simple solution: Proximity fuse on a major explosive. Warn all nations, get too close and you blow up.”
There are several issues to think about. For the MQ-9 Reaper the typical missile costs around $700,000. The drone itself costs $28,000,000 and flying at a cost $3,624 per hour. I don’t know if that includes the satellite time and the pilot, who is (or was) located in Langly, Virginia.
Every pound that you fly costs you money. This is why planes and drones are made as light as possible. A significant explosive that would take down a plane at, say a few hundred yards, might weigh as much as the entire drone. The way an external explosion takes down a plane is it creates a pressure wave, and the wave propagates down the plane’s body hopefully tearing off parts as it goes. A missile has a very small explosive and has to detonate pretty close to damage a plane. The reason the explosive isn’t very large is the missile needs to be light weight both for the plane to carry it and for the missile to have the necessary performance and range to reach a kill radius, which, as I mentioned is very small.
The other problem is, the Reaper and any other drone we would use are VERY expensive. As soon as the opposition realizes that they can make them explode they’ll figure a way to threaten the plane to cause it to self-destruct without losing their plane.
Anything that you or I would consider a simple solution that easily fits on an FR post would be easily gamed by the opposition and we’d soon be losing lots of drones for no cost to the Russians. The answer is going to lie elsewhere. The Iranians gave up shooting down drones when the US sent a fighter escort along with them. That’s one solution. Another is to figure out other means of performing the mission. Stealth drones are a possibility, but the price would likely double.