Updated December 21, 2024.
With reports of drone spottings in the US & US bases in UK & viral videos of Chinese drone swarms, I’ve seen a lot of people questioning what the counter measures to drones are. I decided to dig into some of the counter UAS (c-UAS) technology in use and being developed.
Pentagon Drone Defense Demo June 2024
The Pentagon held a drone defense field demonstration in June 2024. Eight counter-UAS (c-UAS) systems were tested against swarms of up to 50 drones of different types attacking simultaneously from different directions and speeds. The vendor participants were: Anduril, ATSC, Clear Align, ELTA, ICR, SAIC, Teledyne FLIR, and Trakka..
From breakingdefense.com coverage of the event:
Instead of being built around a single weapon, most of these offerings were “layered” defenses that combined multiple sensors to detect the drones, which often are too low, slow, and small for radar, and “effectors” to take them down.
All told, across all nine candidate systems, the demonstration featured at least four types of sensors: radars, cameras both electro-optical and infra-red, and radio-frequency scanners. There were also four types of “effectors”: guided rockets, drone-killing mini-drones, machineguns, and radio-frequency jammers.
…
“No one capability, whether kinetic or non-kinetic, in itself could really just beat this kind of [attack] profile … What we saw was they really do need a full system of systems approach, a layered approach.”
Keeping in mind there are capabilities not disclosed to the public, here’s some information I found about the technology provided by some of those vendors and others.
Anduril
Anduril has a few c-UAS options I was able to find. They have Pulsar: Family of Software-Defined Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) Systems that leverage AI to rapidly adapt to emerging threats.
and Roadrunner & Roadrunner-M. Roadrunner is a modular, twin-jet powered autonomous air vehicle. Vertical takeoff and landing capability, pairing high subsonic speed with exceptional agility and stability. Roadrunner-M is a high-explosive interceptor variant of Roadrunner for ground-based air defense that can rapidly identify, intercept and destroy an array of aerial threats, including large aircraft that are up to 100 times more expensive, or be safely recovered and reused at near-zero cost.
They also offer an interceptor drone, Anvil. It is featured in the next video. Just days ago, Anduril won a $200 million deal with the USMC to reinforce the US Marine Corps’ Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) with its Anvil counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) solution.
Anduril announced in October 2024,
Anduril Industries has been awarded a $249,978,466 contract to deliver advanced air defense capabilities across services for the Department of Defense. This contract will deliver more than 500 Roadrunner-Ms and additional Pulsar electronic warfare capabilities, addressing the growing threat of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) attacks against U.S. forces. Deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter of 2024 and continue through the end of 2025.
Anduril.com
Dedrone
Dedrone offers two primary drone mitigation devices for neutralizing drone threats:
DroneDefender
DroneDefender is a portable point-and-shoot jamming device capable of jamming RF and GNSS. It is effective up to 2km. It instantly breaks communication between drone and operator.
DeDroneDefender
DedroneDefender is a more sophisticated narrowband jamming system designed for urban environments. It uses cloud-enabled integration with DedroneTracker.AI software. If offers minimal interference with other electronic systems due to narrowband jamming technology.
D-Fend Solutions
D-Fend Solutions‘ EnforceAir system uses RF cyber-takeover technology that specifically targets the radio frequency communications between drones and their controllers. EnforceAir automatically executes cyber drone detection and takeover mitigation of (non-autonomous) rogue drones.
Epirus
Epirus is the maker of the Leonidas product family. The Epirus Leonidas family of long-pulse high-power microwave (HPM) products utilizes solid-state, software-defined HPM technology to enable unmatched counter-electronics effects. Multiple systems can work together to create a layered defense posture, integrating into a larger ‘system-of-systems’ including other forms of kinetic and non-kinetic air defense. Epirus has already begun supplying the US Army with their systems.
Dec 21, 2024 Update: Epirus co-founder, Joe Lonsdale, described their tech in this Shawn Ryan Show interview. He also shared that their tech can be deployed with Anduril’s Roadrunner.
Flex Force Enterprises
Flex Force Enterprises makes the Dronebuster. It is a handheld jammer employing multiple defeat mechanisms: Radio Frequency (RF) jamming, GPS/GNSS signal disruption capabilities that can make drones hover, land, or fall from the sky, and the newer SNA (Satellite Navigation Attack) variant provides satellite navigation attack features that can be used either independently or combined with the full spectrum jamming. The Block 4 has the unique option of upgradability to navigation spoofing which goes beyond merely jamming satellite navigation.
Update: In a Dec 19, 2024 press briefing, Pentagon spokesman said Dronebusters were deployed to NJ.
Fortem Technologies
Fortem Technologies offers the SkyDome product suite. Fortem argue, “the most intelligent way to defeat more significant drone threats is with another drone — a drone interceptor, to be exact.” They produce DroneHunter® F700 – capable of defeating significant Group-3 threats like the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone. DroneHunter is also armed with Netgun – modular attachments that fire rapidly expanding nets to ensnare targets.
Northrop Grunman
Offers the Forward Area Air Defense Command andControl (FAAD C2) system. Their website states FAAD C2 “Is the U.S. Army’s SHORAD C2 program of record and was selected by the Secretary of Defense as the C2 system for counter-small unmanned aircraft system procurements.” The system can simultaneously control multiple different effector (weapon) systems, integrates both kinetic and non-kinetic weapons, and features an open architecture allowing easy addition of new weapon systems.
[The system] can plan for complex aerial swarm scenarios with numerous weapons against varying threats.
euro-sd.com
…
FAAD is a cyber-certified, real-time safety critical command-and-control (C2) software package that simultaneously integrates short-range air defence, counter-rocket, artillery, mortar and C-UAS missions, enabling co-ordinated protection across the joint force with rapid, real-time defence against complex, maneuvering threats.
(FAAD S2 can integrate with many of the other systems described in the article.)
Raytheon
Raytheon offers the Coyote Block 2 and Coyote Block 3 c-UAS interceptors. TheWarZone reports “the Army has racked up 170 kills with Coyote counter-drone interceptors in operational deployments globally.” Coyote Block 2 features a turbine engine reaching speeds of 345-370 mph, has a range of 10-15 km and can re-attack if it misses on first pass, and contains a specialized warhead producing fragment fields optimized for destroying small drones.
Coyote Block 3 Can be launched from unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and underwater vehicles (UUVs), uses a non-kinetic warhead to defeat drone swarms, and features a more traditional UAV design with wings and electric motor. In September, Raytheon was awarded a $197 million dollar contract for their Coyotes.
Teledyne FLIR
“the Cerberus XL C-UAS is a rugged platform that integrates sophisticated long-range sensors with advanced technology for combating unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS). This solution combines thermal and visual detection systems with long-range 3D radars and RF detection devices. With this advanced sensor combination, Cerberus XL can effectively locate and track aerial targets while integrating non-kinetic countermeasures capable of neutralizing drones at a distance of up to three kilometers.”
armyrecognition.com
Of note: There are restrictions on the types of c-UAS systems which can be used for homeland defense. For now, some of the systems mentioned above are off the table. twz.com writes about that in: Lasers, Microwaves, Missiles, Guns Not On The Table For Domestic Drone Defense.
Update: DOD has released a fact sheet about their new classified strategy for countering unmanned systems.
Update 2: The drone detection system Senator Schumer requested be deployed to NY after December 2024 drone incursions is the Robin Radar System. It is a 360-degree radar system capable of identifying and tracking drones. Schumer claimed it can be mounted on other drones or an airplane.
Update 3: I added an interview with the co-founder of Epirus above. In it, he describes the tech used in their Leonidas systems and also shared that their tech can be deployed with Anduril’s Roadrunner.
Update 4: On Dec 19, 2024, the Pentagon disclosed Dronebusters had been deployed to NJ along with unnamed detection systems.
Update 5: Small specialized media outlets such as twz.com are top tier for news related to drone events, imo. Adding one event they documented.
From them: The following radio call between Wright-Patterson AFB tower and a medical transport aircraft that occurred during the drone incident was provided by a radio enthusiast reader:
Did I miss a c-UAS system? Join the discord server I just created and share it with me.
