Human collateral damage assessment of a pellet C-UAS system using a gelatine-based standardized surrogate

Unmanned aerial vehicles can be deemed a threat for a wide range of disastrous scenarios in urban contexts, regarding critical infrastructures or in civil environments. Various countermeasures exist based on different technologies. One of the possibilities is a cloud of pellets that has a relatively short range. The objective of this approach is to maximize the covered area in order to increase the probability of hitting the target. A specific pellet-based C-UAS system has been identified for the purposes of this study. The present work assesses a single pellet and its critical range for collateral damage. The assessment was performed through the determination of a specific ballistic limit, in particular, the velocity at which 50 percent of the pellets fired perforate the test object. This limit is determined by following a NATO standard assessment of skin penetration of non-lethal projectiles on a gelatine skin surrogate. Previously published work has modeled the trajectory of the dedicated Counter-UAS projectile and has determined the ballistic limit for the intended target. With the addition of this study, the value of the collateral damage range can be determined in the trajectory model. Additionally, the obtained ballistic limits and inferred energy densities are contrasted to ballistic limits from comparable research campaigns by use of sectional densities.