The UK Ministry of Defense has revealed that it is testing a future weapon that can shoot down drones simply by emitting radio waves. Remarkably, each "shot" costs less than "a pack of mince pies." The Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon (RFDEW) has been in development for some time, but British soldiers recently had the opportunity to test it.

The Army's Royal Artillery Test and Development Unit, working with 7 Air Defense Group, conducted a successful live-fire trial in West Wales. This marks the first time the British Armed Forces have used the system against an unmanned aerial system (UAS). Unlike laser energy weapons that use concentrated beams of energy, RFDEW bombards drones and missiles with high-power radio frequencies to disable them, effectively frying their internal electronics.

Laser weapon systems have proven their effectiveness against individual drones and other aircraft, but face challenges when dealing with swarms of drones. This is where RFDEW shows outstanding potential.

During the trial, the Army's air defense team successfully detected, tracked and attacked multiple drone targets at a distance of up to one kilometer. Impressively, each attack only costs about 10p (13 cents).

The RFDEW trial is an important milestone not only for the UK's directed energy programme, but also for rapidly developing military technology. A press release issued by the British government emphasized that RFDEW has a high degree of automation, can be operated by only one person, has high accuracy and is relatively low-cost, and can effectively eliminate threats on land, in the air and even on the water.

That last point is important, showing that it can be used against threats other than aerial drones and missiles. The system is also flexible in deployment and can be installed on any military vehicle.

The technology was developed by British defense company Thales in cooperation with QinetiQ, Teledynee2v and other companies. The development of this technology supports more than 135 skilled engineering jobs in the UK.

Understandably, senior government officials are excited about the success of the trial. Defense Secretary Maria Eagle called it "another step forward for a potentially game-changing sovereign weapon" that would help the UK maintain a "critical edge against the emerging threats we face."

However, actual deployment of RFDEW may still take some time. Significant testing and fine-tuning is likely to be required before radio wave attacks become standard British military doctrine.