Australian-made 30mm weapon systems are being sent to Ukraine as part of a US security assistance package announced earlier this year. ‘Slinger’ light-weight 30mm cannon systems, made by Canberra-based Electro Optic Systems Defence Systems, have been ordered for use on “30mm gun trucks” announced by the US Department of Defense earlier this year on 4 April.
Each “Slinger” contains a radar, 30mm stabilised cannon with proximity-fuse, hi-explosive or armour-piercing ammunition designed for tracking and drone engagement at a range of more than 800 metres.
The Ukraine version will be used in coordination with Northrop Grumman’s M-ACE (acquisition, cueing and effector) system.
EOS Defence Systems executive vice-president Matthew Jones, responsible for defence systems in Australia, the US and Singapore, said the weapon system could be mounted on a heavy 4×4 for operation or for unmanned ground vehicle configuration.
“The Slingers have been contracted by Northrop Grumman, we received a purchase order for three systems, and there’ll be more to follow after the first three. The Slinger configured systems use a M230LF light-weight 30mm cannon … with single-shot engagement beyond 800 metres,” he said.
“We’ve been in trials with Northrop Grumman on this particular capability for actually a couple of years, and this will be their first export sale of the Slinger capability.
“The configuration that we’re delivering under this contract is a manned vehicle, a four-by-four US truck mounted configuration with the operator operating the system from within the cab, and the system mounted on the back in the tray.”
Slinger uses sophisticated technology to achieve a blunt result. In Canberra, EOS test engineer Charlotte Capper used a joystick to follow a drone on the system’s targeting screen.
A joystick is used to follow a drone on the system’s targeting screen.(ABC News: Norman Hermant)
“It’s very quick and easy to learn. You don’t have to know much about the technology. It’s easy to see what each thing does and how it does it.”
Last month, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko saw first-hand during testing how Slinger can bring down drones for a fraction of the cost of missiles.
“Sometimes those missiles cost millions. And you hit the drones, which cost $20,000, right? And it’s all about the cost,”
Mr Myroshnychenko said.
“But you never know where that drone is aiming at and what exactly that drone is going to destroy.”
Slinger’s price tag is less than $1.55 million per system. It aims to take down drones at a cost of between $155 and $1,550 per engagement.
“Ukrainian cities are being attacked by drones and missiles on a daily basis. And we have been seeing these drones now for a year and a half,” the Ukrainian ambassador said.
“The Slinger system provides a unique way to target moving targets, especially when we can intercept their drones.”
Slingers Being Shipped to Ukraine
In Queanbeyan and the ACT, EOS assembles the cameras, lasers, and gimbals that make its tracking systems work. Eighty-five per cent of the component parts are sourced from Australian suppliers.
Most of the components of the Slingers are sourced in Australia.(ABC News: Norman Hermant)
The company’s defence products are a direct link to its origins in the space business. EOS monitors objects as small as a 10-cent piece orbiting up to 36,000 kilometres above the Earth.
That technology translates directly into targeting fast-moving small objects – like drones.
“What we’re really doing here is we’re using the tracking, we’re using the stabilisation algorithms we’ve used to develop for deep space tracking,”
said Matt Jones, Executive Vice President, Defence Systems, Electro Optic Systems, or EOS.
Matt Jones says tracking and algorithms are used to develop tracking. (ABC News: Norman Hermant)
Ten Slingers now being made in the ACT are expected to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year as part of a US military aid package.
A spokesperson for the Department of Defence said the Australian government was committed to delivering on its current contribution to Ukraine. But there are no current plans to add Slingers to the $710 million in Australian military assistance to Ukraine.
Mr Ryan believes Ukraine needs as many counter-drone systems as it can get to defend against the new reality of war.
“This has literally been a Cambrian explosion in the use of drones in warfare,”
he said.
“One of the most intense periods of innovation and adaptation in the systems that we have ever seen, and we’re probably not at the end yet.
We’re probably closer to the beginning than the end.”