The escalating drone arms race has taken a new turn with Saab's introduction of its Project Nimbrix Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) missile – a low-cost fire-and-forget anti-small-drone and drone swarm weapon with a modest footprint.
If you surf the defense news long enough, you'll soon collect information on a wide range of anti-drone weapons. This isn't surprising, since in recent years uncrewed aircraft have boomed across all classes, and even the small ones have quickly evolved from nuisances to deadly threats.
One thing that's obvious about anti-drone systems is just how diverse they are. There are anti-drone missiles, lasers, microwave beams, radio jammers, interceptors, nets, and even raptors like hawks and falcons have been recruited. This isn't because engineers can't make up their minds. It's that countering drones, even ones that are very similar to one another, often require a many layered defense to maximize the chances of neutralizing the threat.
One layer of this is Saab's first foray into the anti-drone missile field, Project Nimbrix. Initiated in early 2024, the company-funded program is designed as a relatively inexpensive system for handling small drones, individually or in swarms, at a range of up to 2.7 nautical miles (3.1 miles, 5 km).
It's also made to not take up much room, measuring only about 3 ft (1 m) in length and weighing between 5.5 and 6.6 lb (2.5 and 3 kg). This allows the ground-based system to be human-portable as well as able to be mounted on a tripod or installed on a vehicle.
Guided by an active infrared seeker, after launch the Nimbrix missile tracks and intercepts the target with the aid of the Saab Trackfire remote weapon station, Swedish C-UAS LOKE, or other command and control systems. After closing, it destroys the hostile drone using a hard-kill 40-mm blast fragmentation warhead. In the event of a swarm attack, this warhead can take it out with an airburst of shrapnel.
"Nimbrix is our answer to the unmanned aerial threats which have escalated in the last few years," said Stefan Öberg, head of Saab’s business unit Missile Systems. "It is cost-effective, which is critical given the proliferation of UASs on the battlefield. Nimbrix benefits from our long experience of air defense, together with an agile way of responding to new needs."
Source: Saab
