Hosted by the UK’s 7 Air Defence Group, GBAD Expo 24 was delivered by the two resident air defence regiments, 12 Regt RA. equipped with Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) and 16 Regt RA that provides Medium Range Air Defence (MRAD) capability.
GBAD Expo 24 was designed to bring together the air defence community’s main players: manufacturers, decision makers and end users to focus on what is a continually and rapidly evolving critical battlespace requirement. Perhaps, and more importantly, the expo provided a platform through which to identify UK deficiencies and requirements, and what developments industry technologists may reveal to fill those gaps.
One industry attendee described the event as “the single largest gathering of the professional GBAD community in over a decade. Outstanding.”
The resulting high-intensity conflict of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has brought into stark reality that GBAD remains an indispensable component of warfare. It is against that complex and prolific threat that GBAD Expo 24 set out to generate a comprehensive response showcasing how that threat is being addressed today and how it will be tomorrow. As the principal organiser and event lead – Commanding Officer 12th Regiment Royal Artillery, Lt Col Martin Wells – said, “As the Field Army’s most operationally committed formation – the development of current and future Land GBAD capability must rise to meet the contemporary threat. The idea is to get a GBAD community; people who are influential in the GBAD environment in the same place at the same time to inform, educate and influence so we are having the right conversations at the right level to drive forward an essential capability in defence.”
The day was split into three stages: Fight Today, Fight Tonight and Fight Tomorrow, each reflecting a different facet in the development and potential of evolving GBAD systems.
Fight Today provided the opportunity for the British Army’s two air defence regiments to showcase their equipment and capabilities they field operationally world-wide in such locations as: Estonia on Operation Cabrit for the troops of 12 Regiment Royal Artillery with 16 Regiment Royal Artillery operating in Poland and the Falkland Islands.
Two Lance Bombardiers of 12 Regiment Royal Artillery spoke of their first-hand experience of engaging and destroying a one-way attack drone. “We were deployed overseas to help protect a base using a Star Streak Lightweight Multiple Launcher system to guard against any incoming drones. We acquired and tracked a hostile inbound target and then engaged it whist it was travelling more than 140mph – we got it with the first short.” What the team had successfully shot down was an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying an 85kg high-explosive payload that had it got through would have wreaked havoc within the camp. For their actions and recognising that pressurised shot the pair each received a commander’s award.
Also, on the Fight Today stands, and representing some of the most recent upgrades in the Army’s infantry anti-drone capabilities, were members of 3 Parachute Regiment. They were on site demonstrating the new drone tracking 4 x Smash Sight. The new sighting system that attaches to the standard issued SA80 individual weapon that effectively converts it into a highly accurate drone hunter that has been further enhanced by combining it with a 4 x magnifying capability.
Fight Tonight – looked at what equipment the British Army may look to acquire in the near future. On display was the VAMTAC Rapid Ranger mounted system. The Ministry of Defence is considering procuring six Rapid Rangers to replace the six Stormer vehicles that were gifted to Ukrainian forces back in 2022 with, perhaps further deliveries to follow. Also within the Fight Tonight was latest iteration of Sky Keeper, a C2 modular command and control battlespace management system that can be configured for a range of uses from an operations centre, down to a highly deployable hand-held tablet for more tactical situations.
Fight Tomorrow – provided a peek beyond the horizon and was perhaps the most exciting and revealing aspect of the day. Leading defence industry manufacturers explained and demonstrated their emerging technologies and developments being trialled, among them anti-drone developments such as the Dragon Fire, the laser directed energy weapon which can destroy drones at a fraction of the cost of guided missile systems with the use of high intensity laser beams.
In his address the Commander of 7 Air Defence Group, Colonel Stu Hay really summed up the significance of GBAD Expo 24, “Some vitally important decisions are about to be made now and over the next few weeks and months that will determine the UK’s ability to preserve and protect its combat power to fight and win wars on land.”
