Overview

• The terminal-evasion concept equips small to medium UAVs with side-mounted rocket boosters for abrupt, high-G course changes that disrupt incoming missile tracking.
• Researchers led by Bi Wenhao at Northwestern Polytechnical University detailed the system in the July issue of Acta Armamentarii.
• Digital tests report survival rates exceeding 87 percent, with one-to-two-second evasive shifts and lateral thrusts over 16 Gs beyond conventional limits.
• Adding boosters introduces weight, power and payload trade-offs and demands precise thrust vectoring plus split-second onboard computing for autonomous activation.
• The proposal remains at the simulation stage pending prototype integration and testing even as U.S. initiatives like the Replicator program push for mass-produced, attritable drone swarms.