Compass Points - Two Swarms
Two swarms, two solutions.
Compass Points - Two Swarms
Two swarms, two solutions.
July 16, 2025
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In the very near future, the US may need to defend against two very different kinds of swarms.
The first swarm is the swarm of aerial drones. A single drone is difficult to defend against, they are small and maneuverable. While a single drone is a difficult challenge, a swarm of attacking is a much bigger problem.
A recent Breaking Defense article discusses a new weapon against drone swarms, "High-power microwave ‘force field’ knocks drone swarms from sky."
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In the mix of counter-UAS systems under development today like kinetics, lasers, and jamming, only one technology, high-power microwave (HPM), is specifically designed to take out swarms of drones all at once.
Attacking swarms have become a common feature in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Defensive systems, however, can only shoot down one threat at a time. To address that gap, the Defense Department is experimenting with high-power microwave (HPM) to disable drone swarms and other devices dependent on electronics.
A defensive concept known as “one-to-many”, the U.S. Army is developing these systems with Epirus, a “neo prime” focused on asymmetric warfare. Epirus has delivered four prototype HPM counter-swarm systems under a $66 million OTA issued by the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office in early 2023 under the Integrated Fires Protection Capability High Power Microwave (IFPC-HPM) program. Epirus delivered the first IFPC-HPM system nine months after contract award and finalized delivery of all four systems in March 2024. The Army followed in October with an approximately $17 million contract modification for the development and integration of an upgraded sensor suite in support of IFPC-HPM.
-- Breaking Defense
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Drone swarms are only one kind of dangerous swarms the US must guard against. Some of the other swarms are much more complex. The US is surrounded by a swarm of hostile nations, proxy nations, and non-state actors. To be able to respond to a global swarm of hostilities as well as humanitarian missions requires much more than a HPM anti-swarm system. It takes the combined arms units, equipment, and capabilities of forward deployed Marine MAGTFs. In his article, "Getting the Marine Corps Out of the Chinese Finger Cuffs" in the American Spectator, author and Marine Gary Anderson writes about a recent warning from General Anthony Zinni and the importance of combined arms Marines.
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In a recent article in the dissident unofficial Marine Corps publication “Compass Points,” retired General Tony Zinni points out the problem. Zinni is one of the most experienced and accomplished Marines of his generation, having directed complex combat and humanitarian missions as a joint commander. He argues that the current Marine Corps fixation with China is myopic and potentially fatal to the future of the Corps. He is absolutely correct.
. . . Until 2019, the Marine Corps had a credible deterrent reaction force against China in the form of a Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) worth of Maritime Prepositioned Forces (MPF) in Guam and a Marine Corps Expeditionary Unit (MEU) that operated out of Okinawa. These capabilities could be quickly repositioned to the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, or any trouble spot where China is a threat. Their fixed-wing fighter/attack aircraft could use anti-ship missiles to do the same thing that the Force Design concept was designed to do, but from a safer distance. Instead of small, isolated platoons on the vulnerable islets in the South China Sea, the missile-carrying aircraft would be protected by a regiment-sized ground combat team with tanks and heavy engineering equipment to build bunkers and revetments for force protection.
This would have provided China with the assurance that any regional nation they threatened would have serious backing from the United States.
The Marine Corps gutted the MPF concept when it did away with the tanks, heavy engineers, and much of the field artillery that gave the MEB real combat power, and the lack of amphibious shipping meant that there was no assured transport for the MEU. This could be remedied in the near term in the region, but not without risk elsewhere. If the National Command Authority wants to place the Corps’ primary emphasis on China, what is left of the MPF capability could be concentrated in the Western Pacific.
-- Gary Anderson, "Getting the Marine Corps Out of the Chinese Finger Cuffs"
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There are swarms of challenges ahead for the US. Some challenges may involve swarms of drones. Others may be may be much larger and more complex, global swarms of unforeseen challenges. For drone swarms, high powered microwaves might be a solution. For swarms of global crises and contingencies, the best answer is forward deployed Marines on Navy amphibious ships patrolling the oceans 24/7/365 prepared to arrive off any troubled shore to deter, assist, and fight. The Navy's amphibious fleet needs to be expanded, and the Marine's global MAGTF needs to be upgraded, restored, and enhanced. There is no time to waste. As Gary Anderson observes, "There are interim remedies to increase the Marine Corps’ capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, but it will take a decade to fully repair."
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Breaking Defense - 02/18/2025
High-power microwave ‘force field’ knocks drone swarms from sky
Working like an EMP weapon, microwaves change the counter-UAS mission from one-to-one to one-to-many.
By Breaking Defense
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/02/high-power-microwave-force-field-knocks-drone-swarms-from-sky/
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American Spectator - 07/13/2025
Getting the Marine Corps Out of the Chinese Finger Cuffs
There are interim remedies to increase the Marine Corps’ capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, but it will take a decade to fully repair.
By Gary Anderson
https://spectator.org/getting-the-marine-corps-out-of-the-chinese-finger-cuffs/
Our civilian first responders are "forces in readiness" for our communities just like the Marine Corps is for our Nation. Imagine a fire dept. which only trained for one type of emergency. Or a police dept. which could only handle one type of crime. To be a force in readiness, you must train and be equipped for all types of emergencies. Not just the one you expect will occur. Regarding China, there are numerous contingencies which we could face that have nothing to do sea control. There are numerous Chinese holdings worldwide which we could face, and they would have nothing to do with the SIF or NMESIS. We also have to be prepared to fight the PLA on a force on force situation. As a force in readiness the Marine Corps must "return to its roots" as the Nation's crisis response force in readiness.
The weakness of a microwave energy defense obviously would be its economical destruction by an anti-radiation missile. The APKWS rocket has proven value, the same homing system would fit in a 60mm revolver cannon projectile and allow swarms to be atritted down to nothing from 10km out with insignificant down range collateral damage at a fraction of a $16M microwave prototype that likely would be knocked out before dropping a single drone.
Microwave defense systems would be of some value at domestic and rear area bases provided they do not interfere with wifi and other vital electronic signals equipments, but as a front line system its a classic exquisite system the cost of which would degrade the whole.