Sweden Unleashed LOKI on Russian Drones… Total DESTRUCTION

The wars in Ukraine and now in the
Persian Gulf have shattered many of the usual rules of engagement.

All sides in these
conflicts are making prodigious use of drones, both on the frontlines and for long-range strikes
far behind them.

A massive arms race has ensued, with nations around the world scrambling
to develop the most deadly, scalable, and cost-effective attack drones with the utmost
urgency.

At the same time, an equally crucial arms race has emerged alongside.

Counter-drone
technology.

Also known as C-UAS solutions, counter-drone efforts run the gamut from cheap
hand-held net guns to advanced missile systems that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

But
now, Swedish giant Saab has come up with a unique concept that’s been proven in action, and may
just change NATO’s entire approach to anti-drone warfare.

The Loke.

Let’s take a closer look at
the Loke system, what makes it such an innovative concept, and how it could change drone warfare
permanently.

Now, C-UAS has become big business.

A spate of drone incursions into European airspace
in mid- to late-2025 exposed how unprepared much of Europe was for the kind of bombardment by
drone swarms that Ukraine – and increasingly Russia – have been compelled to continuously fend
off.

Traditional missile-based air defense systems like the MIM-104 Patriot and IRIS-T have proven
to be effective at taking out long-range drones like Russia’s Shahed/Geran variants.

Effective –
but not cost-effective.

It’s simply not feasible to use multi-million-dollar interceptor missiles
to shoot down drones that cost tens of thousands.

Especially not when the drones can be produced at
a rate of hundreds per day, while the interceptor missiles are produced at a rate of hundreds
per year.

So, the race is on to develop C-UAS solutions.

Between 2026 and 2030, NATO members and
close allies are expected to spend more than $210 billion on air and missile defense capabilities.

Much of that will be allocated for high-end systems like Patriot, IRIS-T, and SAMP systems.

The need to protect against high-end threats like Russian and Iranian cruise and ballistic
missiles is as critical as ever.

However, billions are also pouring into air defense systems
specifically focused on drones, especially systems that offer a workable cost-to-kill ratio and
are easy to produce in large quantities – and quickly.

The latest Unmanned Airspace 2026 Global
Counter-UAS Systems Directory lists over 1,000 C-UAS systems from more than 550 companies that
are under development or in production around the world.

The directory breaks the systems down into
11 different categories: systems for capturing drones, like net guns; uncrewed ground vehicles;
detector systems; directed energy weapons systems; electronic counter measures, or ECM; guns;
integrated systems; intercept drones; missiles; munitions; and others, including software.

But
unlike most of the systems listed, they might have difficulty slotting Loke into one single category
or another.

Because what makes this system special isn’t some brand new high-tech way of bringing
down drones, or innovative use of AI.

Rather, its beauty lies in pragmatically putting together
abundant, existing components to create a highly effective and cost-effective system.

Saab didn’t
try to reinvent the wheel.

They didn’t have to.

Their engineers looked at existing components
sitting on their shelves – designed for entirely different use cases – and realized they already
had everything they needed to produce the ultimate drone-killer.

And it’s a move that has C-UAS
designers around the world going either “Hang on, why can’t we do that?” or “Gimme.

” Now, the
fact that it’s Saab coming up with pragmatic and innovative solutions to pressing military problems
should come as no surprise to seasoned observers of the global military industrial complex.

They’ve
been doing it for decades, after all.

The company, whose name is short for Svenska Aeroplan
Aktiebolaget, or Swedish Aeroplane Corporation, was founded in 1937.

It subsequently became the
dominant defense industry company in Sweden with a market cap in excess of $35 billion.

It’s by far
the most important company in the country in terms of scale, technological innovation, and strategic
importance.

Over the years, Saab has consistently delivered a smorgasbord of weapons widely in
demand around the world for their quality, practicality, and reliability.

The most notable
of these are probably the iconic JAS 39 Gripen fighter jet, AT4 anti-tank weapon, RBS15 Anti-Ship
missile, Double Eagle mine-clearing naval drones, Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifle, Trackfire remote
weapons station, and Giraffe radar systems.

And the last two items on that list are now being
combined in the brand new Loke system.

Loke was first presented in February 2025 – the fruits
of a collaboration between the Swedish Air Force, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration,
or FMV, Saab, and other “partners.

” It combines existing technologies into a modular system that
can be assembled in different configurations like Lego.

The system integrates a mobile radar –
Saab’s Giraffe 1X – with a Trackfire Remote Weapon Station armed with heavy and medium machine
guns, along with electronic warfare components.

That means it can track both physical targets and
signals in the electromagnetic spectrum, providing both early detection and multiple options for
neutralization.

Because of its modular design, other attachments – such as a directed energy
weapon, for example – could conceivably be attached with relatively little hassle in the
future.

More about those a little later.

But for now, the known components of the system are all
widely used across NATO member states and beyond, reducing interoperability and operator training
learning curves to a minimum.

Take the radar, for example.

The Giraffe radar family
began development in the 1970s, with the first systems delivered in 1977.

They
were originally developed alongside the RBS 70 surface-to-air missile.

Early Giraffe radars were
mechanical, 2D/3D pulse-Doppler systems operating in the G/H-band, and designed to detect low-flying
aircraft in cluttered environments.

Over time, the family evolved into advanced digital systems,
culminating in the Giraffe Agile Multi Beam, or AMB.

The AMB is a 3D passive electronically
scanned array, or PESA, radar that has been widely exported and used in both land and naval roles, as
the Sea Giraffe in the latter case.

But the real leap forward came in May 2014 when Saab unveiled
the Giraffe 1X – the variant used in Loke.

Perhaps with a nod towards the emerging field of
drone warfare, this compact, X-band Active Electronically Scanned Array, or AESA, radar
marked a shift toward mobility, rapid deployment, and multi-role capability.

The AESA array allows
the radar to steer its beams electronically rather than mechanically.

That means faster scanning,
improved reliability, and the ability to track multiple targets simultaneously.

The AESA radar
also provides three-dimensional tracking, meaning it can determine a target’s range, bearing, and
altitude.

This is critical when dealing with small drones or low-flying threats that can blend
into ground clutter.

In addition, advanced signal processing enables the system to distinguish real
targets from birds, terrain, and weather effects, improving detection accuracy in congested
environments.

The result is that the Giraffe 1X offers 360-degree coverage with a full volume scan
every second.

It’s sensitive enough to detect low, slow, small, or LSS, targets like drones, on top
of its counter-RAM – that’s rockets, artillery, and mortars – sense-and-warn functionality.

The
land variant has a range of around 47 miles, while the naval variant has a range of around 61
miles.

More recently, the Giraffe 1X Deployment Set was added in 2023, improving transportability
and readiness.

And in 2024, the Compact Radar Module was introduced, enabling the antenna to be
folded into the housing at the press of a button.

With a total system weight under 330 pounds,
it can be readily deployed on light vehicles, masts, or rooftops to provide simultaneous air
and surface surveillance.

It can be operated either remotely or locally, and offers flexible
integration with command and control, or C2, systems.

In other words, it can be seamlessly
linked with other sensors, communication networks, weapons platforms, and decision-making tools
to enable coordinated military operations.

With all those features, little wonder that demand
for the Giraffe 1X has been high.

The U.

S.

, Sweden, Latvia, and the UK are all procuring
the system, either to be used on light vehicles, tactical units, fixed sites, or integrated into
naval platforms.

Now, it’s also the eyes and ears of Loke.

That makes perfect sense.

The Giraffe’s
characteristics are perfectly suited to a modular, mobile C-UAS platform like Loke.

Even better,
with healthy demand from home and abroad for the various iterations of the Giraffe for almost half
a century, Saab’s production lines are well-oiled, and its inventories are well-stocked.

From Saab’s
perspective, for Loke, the Giraffe is pretty much an off-the-shelf solution.

And it’s more or less
the same story with the weapons system that fires at the targets identified by the Giraffe.

The
Trackfire Remote Weapon Station, or RWS.

Like the Giraffe, its choice was somewhat of a no-brainer
for Saab.

Trackfire is a remotely operated weapon and sensor system specifically developed
by Saab for integration on naval vessels, fixed defense positions, and land vehicles –
i.

e.

, on platforms just like Loke.

The system was publicly launched at the DSEI 2007 expo in London
and entered service in 2012 with Finland’s Navy, its first major deployment.

That was followed by a
2017 contract with the aforementioned FMV that saw the Trackfire integrated domestically onto Combat
Boat 90s and other naval platforms.

And at least 26 of those boats ended up in Ukraine.

Since 2022,
Sweden has sent Ukraine 21 packages of direct military aid, worth a whopping $11.

3 billion.

Included were donations of advanced weapons systems like Archer artillery, Stridsvagn 122
tanks, air defense systems, and CB90 boats with Trackfire RWS.

Ten CB90s were delivered to Ukraine
in February 2024 and a further 16 in January 2025.

As it turns out, those Trackfire integrations
were some of the last of the old configuration of the system.

The new configuration – no doubt
heavily influenced by Ukraine’s experiences during the war – was about to be unveiled.

The Trackfire
ARES was also unveiled at DSEI, albeit at the 2025 edition.

It’s specifically designed for C-UAS
operations, and is the perfect fit for Loke.

Optimized for high precision and crew protection
while firing on the move, it supports 360-degree azimuth rotation with elevation from -20 degrees
to +55 degrees.

Now, those aren’t particularly impressive specs compared to rival RWS systems,
which typically also have 360-degree azimuth.

The naval variants of the Kongsberg Protector RWS
and Korean Hanwha Defense Naval RWS have the same depression of -20 degrees, but a slightly
higher elevation of +60 degrees.

Rheinmetall RMG 30 RWS variants typically offer -15 degree to
+60 degree elevation.

And the Turkish Aselsan STAMP Naval RWS beats all of them with a -15
degree to +55 degree spread.

That’s the kind of information you find on any old military-focused
channel on YouTube.

Here at the Military Show, we dig beneath the headlines to bring you the real
story.

Make sure you subscribe to the channel so you never miss out.

So, the Trackfire might be
at a slight disadvantage compared to some of its rivals.

But what it lacks in amplitude it more
than makes up for in precision.

It features true Stabilized Independent Line of Sight, or SILOS
for short.

That means the independently stabilized sensor module is decoupled from the weapon’s axes
and thus isolated from weapon recoil effects.

That enables the operator to maintain an uninterrupted
line of sight on the target, greatly reducing target acquisition times in the process.

The
Trackfire ARES’s unique configuration also enables a target to be continuously lased during the
engagement sequence, providing a highly accurate and comprehensive ballistic calculation, including
3D target prediction.

But the real value is perhaps this: it’s a modular system, designed to
be configurable, interoperable, and implementable on an expanding set of platforms.

There are two
main units, onto which others can be plugged.

The first is a Director Unit, or DU, which houses the
Sensor Module, or SM.

The DU connects to the Human Machine Interface, or HMI, which includes
the Gunners Display, Fire Control Panel, Control Handle, and Video Tracker.

What that means
in practical terms is that the crew has a powerful visual representation of the environment and its
targets at its fingertips.

Operators can literally identify threats, select the appropriate response,
and fire without having to break visual contact with their screens.

A dual command facilitates
shared capabilities, leading to even shorter response times and reduced sensor-to-shooter
cycles.

Plus, the system is set up for integration into other platform systems, meaning target
and image data can be transmitted both within the platform and to and from others.

As for the
firepower it can deliver, “flexibility” is the Trackfire’s middle name.

A wide range of weapon
effectors can be mounted, often in combination with one another.

The ARES variant comes standard
with the 30×113 mm M230LF Bushmaster chain gun.

But it can also handle the Browning M2 HMG 12.

7mm
heavy machine gun, FN MAG 58 7.

62mm general purpose machine gun, Mk19 40x53mm, and H&K GMG
40x53mm grenade launchers, and lighter missiles.

You can also mount complementary solutions such as
non-lethal effectors and jammers.

In Loke’s case, the suite includes a Browning M2, an FN MAG
58, and electronic warfare components for jamming.

However, any of the other weapons we just
mentioned, along with smoke launchers, dazzlers, spotlights, loudspeakers, and even lightweight
cannons, can also be mounted onto it, as required.

But even the basic package gives you something
most other C-UAS systems don’t – two different detection and engagement options: physical and
electromagnetic spectrum tracking.

This gives you multiple options for neutralization in addition
to early detection.

And that goes a long way to solving the elephant in the room problem for
NATO.

Cost-appropriate responses against small, low-cost drones.

Now, it’s not just the cost
of the materials that factor into the equation when developing C-UAS solutions.

The time it
takes to go from idea to active in the field is just as huge a concern.

The longer it takes,
the more costly the end product is likely to be.

In this regard, Loke must have broken some kind
of NATO record.

It took just 84 days to get from evaluation to delivery – an eye-wateringly small
amount of time compared to most weapons systems.

Loke was actually conceived as a kind of
“speed run” experiment to see how quickly the Swedes could evaluate and deliver a new
C-UAS system.

And the experiment definitely seems to have worked.

What began as a defense
industry demonstration turned into an intense three-month sprint to deliver a mobile, adaptable
system to the Swedish Air Force’s combat units.

Evaluation began in January 2025, and less than
three months later, working units were delivered, ready for testing in the field.

That is genuinely
quite a feat of modern military engineering.

So how did they do it? According to Carl-Johan
Bergholm, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab’s “Surveillance “business area: “Since this wasn’t a
typical product development cycle spanning several years, we had to think outside the box and take an
innovative approach to overcome this challenge.

By cleverly repurposing existing products and
integrating new features and technologies, [we] brought the concept together at record
speed.

” Having a stack of world-class components on the shelf ready to be integrated into the new
system no doubt helped significantly.

Of course, it’s one thing to deliver a prototype.

It still
has to prove itself on the battlefield.

And in Loke’s case, it already has.

In September 2025,
Saab confirmed that Loke had been deployed for the past six months in Poland.

It had been used
at Malbork Air Base, where Swedish forces from the 21st Wing and later the 17th Wing had been
on NATO assignment.

Their task was primarily securing allied facilities, including a logistics
hub central to the transfer of military aid to Ukraine.

So, how did it perform? The official
word is, well, pragmatic and understated as you might expect from a Swedish officer.

“Effective
air operations require robust ground protection.

The systems we deployed significantly strengthened
base security, both for us and our allies,” said Lieutenant Colonel Christian Bertilsson, commander
of the Swedish contingent in Poland.

Photos of the system give us a bit more detail.

Markings on
the system indicate successful interceptions of 36 quadcopter-type drones and 17 fixed-wing UAVs
during the radar tests.

The photos also reveal the MacGyver-like construction of the system.

The
radar was simply mounted on a pallet and secured with elastic tie-downs.

The power supply
was also arranged simply and practically, with wires routed through an extension cord,
likely connected to a generator.

Next to the radar is a red container equipped with antennas,
clearly the jamming box.

It hasn’t been painted, likely reflecting the project’s emphasis on speed
rather than refinement.

Now, on the one hand, that focus might present some issues for Saab as
it markets the Loke around the world.

The system is now being trained at the platoon level by the
Swedish 21st Wing, with full integration into combat units planned by the end of 2025.

But NATO
integration requires a stricter set of standards, such as regulatory wiring practices.

By the looks
of these early models, some elements will likely need to be tidied up before they can be more
widely deployed.

But on the other hand, the collaborative spirit and agile approach employed
in developing Loke could serve as a blueprint for future projects, or even a shift in NATO doctrine.

As Swedish Air Force Chief Major General Jonas Wikman puts it, “This is a clear example of
how we are building the capabilities required, and that we are prepared to deviate from normal
processes to meet today’s threats quickly.

We need to constantly evolve and find fast and competent
solutions to build a stronger Air Force.

” We don’t know how much it costs, but Loke is
scalable and adaptable to evolving threats, since it can be further enhanced with additional
sensors and weapon stations as required.

It can even operate during redeployment, providing
continuous protection while on the move.

It slots effortlessly into layered air defenses
and is designed for expanding integrations and interoperability with other systems.

How
many other systems can NATO say that about? Those features could be a critical factor in the
years ahead.

The humble Iranian Shahed drone has changed warfare to the extent that even the
U.

S.

was compelled to reverse-engineer it to quickly create an analog of its own.

Nothing
can match the power of high-end systems like the Patriot and THAAD to detect and destroy
inbound aerial arrivals.

But Ukraine alone could swallow an entire year’s production of
PAC-3 missiles in a matter of months – if it could get its hands on them.

Maybe the face of
warfare is changing so fast that the age-old, lengthy but lucrative defense production cycle
just isn’t sustainable anymore.

It’s too expensive and way too slow.

In this new paradigm, it’s
agile, creative, adaptable, and easily scalable solutions like Loke that are likely to be the
winners.

We’ll, of course, keep you updated on developments.

Barely a week goes by without
some exciting new development in C-UAS, after all.

Check out this video about the UK’s new C-UAS
system – the Dragonfire.