Portable 40mm launcher kills drones by firing 6.5-feet-long steel chains at 80 m/s — German researchers’ low-tech mechanical ‘bola’ outshines textile, drops qua

Portable 40mm launcher kills drones by firing 6.5-feet-long steel chains at 80 m/s — German researchers' low-tech mechanical 'bola' outshines textile, drops qua

That costs thousands of dollars and requires substantial power infrastructure, while the KIT team's chain projectile weighs 70 grams and can be fired from a portable launcher. Mattheck noted that a falling chain poses less risk of collateral damage than a solid projectile of equal mass, and that the steel chain outperformed textile nets in initial catapult-based range tests. The biggest tradeoff is range: like a shotgun, the system is only effective at short distances.

Germany recorded over 1,000 suspicious drone flights above military facilities, airports, and other critical infrastructure in 2025 alone, according to senior security officials. Munich Airport was shut down multiple times due to unidentified drone activity last October, and the Bundestag has approved more than 100 million euros ($116 million) in counter-drone funding for 2025 and 2026 in response.

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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist.\u00a0 Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.\u00a0 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Luke James Social Links Navigation Contributor Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.

Notton Looking at the broader picture, I don't think this will work well as a system at an airport. Judging by the 80m/s launch speed, I'm guessing it's the 40x46mm low-velocity cartridge used by handheld grenade launchers… That thing has a maximum range of 400m on an area target. I'll be generous and give it 150m range on a flying target. So a perimeter security is supposed to do what? drive sneakily within 150m of the drone, and take a single highly skilled shot at it to down it? Do they have an army of Legolas' sitting withing their ranks? Or is the intention to mount a custom H&K GMG for LV rounds onto a technical? Reply

PEnns I guess nobody told the researches about swarm drones. What country sends a single drone these days? Unless they want to swarm the swarm! Reply

sk8ryan2 Johnny Hamcheck will have those 6.5ft chains Reply

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