[AHOHA]

I build drones that fly over 5G, the link os also encrypted, and use the same medium that other UEs (cellphones) use in the area, it is hard to impossible to detect even with DPI, or at least by the time you detect it, the drone would be far gone. The only vulnerable point though is the GNSS, it’s weak, prune to interference and jamming, however, there are fail safe mechanisms that if that happens then it returns or land.

[version_five]

Aren't we talking about physically damaging the drones with high power microwaves?

[AHOHA]

OP mentioned using a steel sheet, and how vulnerable the signal can be, while it might work for RC ones, if you use a cellular network, it won’t be much of an impact. Now of you can detect and destroy the drone on time, then yeah that works, but you will have to solve the challenge of isolating the cellular drone first from all the UEs in the area.