Australian EOS reveals what combat module with unique capabilities was supplied to Ukraine
The Slinger combat module ordered for the Armed Forces of Ukraine has the simplest possible slogan: “one shot, one kill” and it is indeed entitled to it, as it is simply the perfect solution against enemy drones
In early April of this year, it became known that Ukraine had ordered the first batch of unnamed combat modules from the Australian company Electro Optic Systems, consisting of hundreds of units, and at the end of the same month announced the signing of a second contract for 50 units.
In both cases, EOS did not announce the type of combat module, which allowed us to make a number of assumptions. But the other day, this Australian company held an open demonstration of its development called Slinger, noting that it is the one that is being supplied to Ukraine.
According to the company’s official announcement, the first contract is for a batch of 110 Slinger combat modules to be installed on M113 tracked armored personnel carriers. And another fifty for the Ukrainian company Practika, which installs them on its armored vehicles.
On the part of Defense Express, we note that we are obviously talking about armored vehicles Kozak 2M, Kozak-5 or Kozak-7. The fact is that the weight of the Slinger combat module of 355 kg allows it to be installed on MRAPs of even the lightest class.
But more interesting is the specialization of the Slinger combat module itself in the form of an anti-drone system. The combat module itself has an advanced sighting system, which includes a radar in addition to the usual optical sighting module and wind sensor.
This particular EchoGuard radar from the American company Echodyne is objectively a small “work of art” because it is a small-sized 4D radar with an instrumental range of 6 km in the 120-degree sector and 80 degrees in the angle of the place.
Echodyne also disclosed the detection ranges of different types of targets in some detail. For example, it can see a drone such as the Matrice 600 from a distance of at least 1.4 km, and the Phantom 4 from more than 1 km.
That is, it is possible to counteract drones in any weather conditions. At the same time, no one has canceled the advanced fire control system, which, even without radar, allows for excellent combat against drones on the R400S combat module. At the same time, the fire system itself allows the target to be automatically tracked, and the operator only gives permission for destruction.
But this radar is necessary to maximize the effective use of another thing that really allows the developer to use the “one shot, one kill” slogan for Slinger. This is the use of an M230LF Bushmaster automatic gun with an ammunition programmer.
In other words, only one such 30-mm shell that explodes right in front of the drone is really enough to destroy the drone.
Thus, this once again shows that the most effective anti-UAV systems in the world so far are precisely such “kinetic” systems. And it was on them that Ukraine relied, because before that it became known that Ukraine would receive similar anti-drone systems CORTEX Typhon from Norwegian Kongsberg, which is a machine gun combat module for the Abrams tank.
