Good Enough For Drone Work

The current rage is figuring out how to cheaply shoot down cheap suicide drones. Go old school on that problem. 

Ukrainians updated old Soviet ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft vehicles when they faced the question of dealing with small drones:

The answer became the ZSU-23-4M-A1 upgrade, and it is a case study in wartime engineering. The most important change sits right on top of the turret: the Rokach-AS radar. The original Shilka radar could track jets, but it was blind to the small, low-radar cross section (RCS) drones that define modern warfare.

Last year I wondered about an old American counter-part to that weapon--the M163:

Hmmm: "Israel is examining the M61 Vulcan cannon to counter drones, according to the Israel Defense Forces, with local media reporting the weapon would go atop armored personnel carriers deployed along the northern border." Do we have any of those Cold War vehicles in desert storage somewhere?

America no doubt has a bunch in storage. And a number of allies still have them. 

If cheap means of shooting down cheap drones are needed, make ground-based air defense a priority again.

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here. 

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NOTE: Army photo of the M163 from Wikipedia.