LAD & C-UAS

Raytheon released new footage showing 4×4 M-ATV-based and fixed palletized launch systems firing Block 2+ Coyote drones, which then defeat a variety of fixed-wing unmanned vehicles at different altitudes.

In partnership with the U.S. Army’s Integrated Fires and Rapid Capabilities Office, Raytheon Missiles & Defense successfully showcased several counter-unmanned aircraft system capabilities during the service’s 10-day summer test period.

The tests used Coyote interceptor variants with the KuRFS precision targeting radar and the Ku-720 mobile sensing radar, to detect and defeat all drone swarms varying in size and range.

Source: YouTube

Le jour anniversaire de la mort du leader de la force Al Qods en Irak, deux drones suicides ont été interceptés avant d'avoir pu frapper l'aéroport de Bagdad. Tous les soupçons pointent aujourd'hui vers l'Iran et les milices qui lui sont affiliées.
Deux drones suicides interceptés

Le 3 janvier à 4h30 du matin, les forces de sécurité américaines encore stationnées en Irak ont détecté et intercepté deux drones armés alors qu'ils approchaient de l'aéroport civil de Bagdad. Le tir de défense a été réalisé grâce au canon rotatif Vulcain de 20mm équipant le système de défense C-RAM Centurion (pour Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar), équivalant terrestre du Phalanx CIWS présent à bord de nombreux navires. La version Centurion utilisée dans ce cas a été développée en urgence à partir de mai 2004 afin de répondre aux attaques continues de projectiles contre les bases américaines du pays, aboutissant à des tests à la fin de l'année 2004 et une admission au service actif dès l'année suivante.

Le canon de type Gatling est capable de tirer 4500 coups par minute vers sa cible, produisant un véritable mur de métal face aux projectiles, quels qu'ils soient, y compris les mortiers. La détection des cibles est réalisée grâce à un radar en bande Ku hybridé à un FLIR. La bulle de protection mesure un peu plus de 1,2 km², soit un rayon de 600m autour du système.

Les images ci-dessous présentent les débris récupérés après la destruction :
Le C-RAM Vulcain tire des cnetaines d'ogives explosives de 200m contre sa cible, permettant une destruction avant de toucher le sol.
Le C-RAM Vulcain tire des cnetaines d'ogives explosives de 200m contre sa cible, permettant une destruction avant de toucher le sol. ©
Les milices pro-iraniennes pointées du doigts

L'attaque survient deux ans après le premier anniversaire de la mort de Qassem Soleimani, chef de la force iranienne Al Qods, groupe d'élite du corps des gardiens de la révolution islamique et responsable des milices chiites pro-iraniennes luttant contre l'Etat Islamique en Irak. Il avait été tué par une frappe américaine réalisée avec un missile AGM-179A tiré depuis un drone alors qu'il se rendait justement sur l'aéroport de Bagdad.

Les débris des drones, récupérés et largement exposés, présentent des inscriptions de revendication en farsi, "Revanche de Soleimani" et "Opération de revanche du leader". Les drones, à ailes fixes, sont le même que ceux qui avait été identifié en juin dernier entre les mains des milices pro-iranienne et dont les images avaient été partagées par les forces du Kurdistan sur leur page Facebook (image ci-contre).
Des tensions croissantes entre l'Iran et ses voisins

Au cours des dernières semaines, l'Iran et ses alliés ont été accusés de faire monter les tensions dans la région : démonstration de force avec le tir massif de missiles balistiques et de drones suicides vers la reconstitution locale d'installations israéliennes, interception d'un navire cargo émirati par les rebelles Houtis, piratage de sites web israéliens, ainsi que la multiplication des escarmouches de la Marine iranienne ou les rumeurs autour de l'achat de Sukhoi par le pays... Une situation également dénoncée par l'Arabie Saoudite, le pays ne parvenant par ailleurs pas à s'imposer face aux Houtis soutenus par l'Iran, faisant craindre des affrontements directs entre les grandes puissance plutôt que par via proxy yéménite.

Iran is intensifying drone attacks in the region, directed against rival forces including the US, Saudi, and Emiratis as well as at civilian ships in the Gulf. Most targets are still unprotected and suffer significant damage and sometimes casualties under such attacks. Aware of the risk of UAS and loitering weapons for many years, Israel has developed effective countermeasures which are now being considered by its allies in the region. - Defense Update:

MARSS is collaborating with Thales for the delivery of system solutions to provide protection of critical infrastructures against multiple Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) threats.

This collaboration will focus on the integration of the MARSS NiDAR C2 security platform and Thales’ leading drone neutralization systems.

The MARSS NiDAR counter-UAS platform seamlessly integrates smart surveillance and countermeasures into a single situational awareness picture by combining the latest in software design with advanced sensors and preferred hardware. NiDAR automatically monitors, detects, tracks and ranks potential threats and approaches to an installation. Customized to each base location, terrain and operational requirements, a warning or alarm-zone breach triggers intelligent alerts for immediate response.

Phil McBride, Managing Director Integrated Airspace Protection Systems at Thales in the U.K., said, “Customers needed to augment their C2 security systems with counter-UAS neutralization means, to combat a vast variety of threats over their facilities. Collaborating with MARSS gives Thales a further opportunity to deploy counter-UAS neutralization solutions, over a wider range of infrastructure protection missions.”

Rob Balloch, MARSS VP Sales, stated, “The neutralization phase in counter-UAS is a critical step. NiDAR finds and verifies the threat. We wanted an equally credible solution to help defeat this threat. Therefore, it was important we worked with an established partner with years of experience in the provision of Air Defense Systems and effectors. This Thales-MARSS partnership creates a formidable force for security missions including counter-UAS, not only for today, but the future of this capability.”

Find Counter-UAS suppliers & manufacturers >>

By Joseph Roukoz

With the drone threat increasing both in the civil as well as in the military domain, MBDA leveraged its know-how in air defence solutions to develop an integrated system capable to deal with Class 1 drone but not only, as it is also open to modules allowing dealing with higher level threats.

A press conference was set up to update the media on MBDA’s Sky Warden solution, first unveiled at IDEX 2021. The European missile company acts as the system integrator of Team Sky Warden, MBDA having understood very well since inception that a solution against unmanned air systems cannot be found using a single type of sensor or effector. Beside MBDA Team Sky Warden includes CerbAir, a specialist in drone detection and neutralisation, KEAS, specialised in jammers, Cilas, active in the laser domain, Teledyne e2v, specialized in RF technologies with its Safe Stop Air capable to stop a UAV at 400 meters distance of using a 1m2 antenna, Saab with its Giraffe G1X radar, and Openworks providing its SkyWall net-based system for capturing drones. As for MBDA, the company provides the Licorne command and control system, a remote electro-optical sensor, a hard kill drone which details were not unveiled, and the Mistral VSHORAD surface-to-air missile system.

Detecting the drone is the first issue, and to this end radar, electro-optic and electronic warfare sensors are used, each solution having strengths and weaknesses, using all of them allowing compensating and ensuring maximum reliability. Gathering all information and elaborating them, exploiting algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence, allows identifying the single drone, assessing the potential threat, would it be a single item or a swarm of drones.

It is now time to neutralise the threat. How to do it depends very much on the scenario, as a solution viable for a military forward operating base in the desert cannot definitely be used to cope with a threat around a football stadium, in the middle of a town.

Different options are this provided by the Sky Warden. The first one is to jam the link between the drone and the ground control station, which usually brings either the drone to land or to go back to base, in that case allowing to acquire the location of the GCS and eventually permitting to apprehend the pilot. A second option is to launch a counter-UAS drone fitted with optronic sensors that allow it to acquire the enemy drone and neutralise it with a direct hit, exploiting kinetic energy for destroying the threat. A third option is provided by a high-energy laser, which would destroy the electronic circuits of the drone.

As with the sensors, also effectors have good and bad points, depending on the type of threat and on the scenario, a direct energy weapon such as a laser can hardly be used in urban areas, thus the availability of different options should ensure an overall coverage against current threats. However the Sky Warden is modular, and as new threats might emerge, new sensors and effectors might well be integrated into the system.

While the system was designed to cope with Class 1 drones, MBDA does not exclude the ability to neutralise threats belonging to higher classes, and in that case it proposes the integration of its ground-based surface-to-air missiles, such as the Mistral VSHORAD or the MICA SHORAD systems.

As said the Sky Warden is fully modular, therefore a customer can pick-up the subsystems of choice in order to tailor the overall system to the threat he needs to face. On the MBDA site at the Plessis-Robinson, on the outskirts of Paris, it was possible to see the Sky Warden installed over a Sherpa 4×4 armoured vehicle provided by Arquus, which roof was full of subsystems, although not all those aforementioned were present.
click on image to enlarge

At the corners we could find four AESA antennas, apparently MHR RPS-42 from Rada of Israel, each covering 90°, capable to detect a nano-UAS at 5 km and a medium-size UAS at 25 km range. These can be replaced by Saab Giraffe G1X radar that might also be installed on the roof, on a telescopic mast. At the centre a mast was carrying the HELMA-P middle power laser weapon from CILAS, capable to neutralise a drone at over 1,000 meters and damage its optics at 3 km. Between the two forward antennas we find a Hornet Lite remotely controlled weapon station armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun; such a weapon doesn’t fit into the C-UAS scenario, but this might indicate a possible evolution of that turret into a C-UAS system. It can also be replaced by the Openworks SkyWall net system. At the back of the vehicle we find the container/launchers of the hard-kill UAV, while the passive RF suite and the jammers were not installed. The Mistral missile system was installed on a second vehicle.

First unveiled at IDEX, aiming at the export market, the Sky Warden is the base of the system promoted by a consortium including MBDA together with Naval Groupe and Hologuarde which is competing for the PARADE French anti-drone system, a bid launched by the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), the French Defence acquisition directorate being expected to announce the winning team in the first half of 2022. The programme foresees a € 350 million investment in 11 years, to counter the drone proliferation in the hexagon, a parliamentary report saying that compared to the 4 00,000 civilian drones that were flying in France in 2017, four years later that figure reached 2.5 million. One of the aims of the Parade programme is to provide an effective anti-drone system to be used during the Olympic Games 2024 that will take place in Paris and neighbouring areas.

MBDA is also involved in the European JEY-CUAS (Joint European sYstem for Countering Unmanned Aerial Systems) programme, which was selected among the many proposals as part of the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) 2020. With a total cost of € 15,003,473.08, the European Union proves a maximum contribution of € 13,500,000.00. The programme sees the participation of 38 European companies, MBDA being the third contributor, after Leonardo and Indra. A study and design project, the JEY-CUAS has a duration of 24 months and aims at developing a new generation modular and flexible C-UAS system which plug and play capability will allow easy reconfiguration to cope with the evolving threat.

Photos courtesy MBDA

CACI International Inc. will support the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division under a new U.S. Department of Defense Information Analysis Center (DoD IAC) multiple-award contract for counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (cUAS).

CACI will provide advanced engineering research, analysis, and development of mission technology to enhance the capabilities of aircraft mission systems for cUAS.

The five-year, $80.5 million task order will modernize components and systems on both manned and unmanned platforms including the EP-3E, P-8A, MQ-8, and MQ-25 UAS for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Coast Guard.

CACI will develop next generation technology for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Electronic Warfare (EW) mission systems, and survivability systems while providing all aspects of logistical support required to meet operational demands.

“Backed by the world’s largest threat signals library and more than 1,200 systems deployed globally, CACI offers technology for any cUAS challenge or mission,” said John Mengucci, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer. “Working with the Navy, we will continue to provide the most advanced capabilities to detect, track and defeat emerging threats to our national security, protecting people and places in any environment.”

Specialists with the U.S. Air Force 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron provide base defense at Al Dhafra Air Base from threats posed by Unmanned Aerial Systems using a 5-pound radar gun-like device.

“Our mission is to detect and defeat all UAS threats,” explained Master Sgt. Manuel Santiago, counter-UAS noncommissioned officer in charge with the squadron. “We have a variety of sensors and other devices that we monitor for potential threats and, of course, we always count on our Airmen around the Wing to be vigilant and report anything out of the unusual.”

“The C-UAS mission gives us the opportunity to work with a number of agencies around the Wing – comms, EOD, fire, OSS, host nation, and others, including several we don’t often work with on a normal basis,” Gibson said. “Building new relationships not only assists us with C-UAS, but I think it benefits both our defenders and the Wing as a whole. Anytime you are building relationships, you are building a stronger team.”

Santiago said while the C-UAS mission is a relatively new one for Security Forces – the responsibility was first assigned to SFS in 2018 – it is an important one.

“Keeping our Airmen safe and our base and our assets safe, is the focus. C-UAS is a new tool to get that done,” he said.

The new device, known as “Dronebuster,” is a cost-effective tool for security teams and first responders to use during fluid, ambiguous, fast-paced encounters to interrupt the signal between the UAS and its controller.

The system allows the user to efficiently interdict a drone approaching a Forward Operating Base, hovering over a large crowd, snooping into secure/private areas, or flying in restricted airspace. With the Dronebuster, the operator can quickly disrupt the drone command link causing the drone to descend or go home. All the operator needs to do is aim the Dronebuster at the drone and pull the trigger.

Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Dan Heaton

Le système Helma-P est une solution innovante capable d’identifier, poursuivre et neutraliser tous types de drones de moins de 25 Kg.

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Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces have purchased Israel’s Skylock Dome System to strengthen FAR’s defensive and territory control capabilities and preserve the country’s national and strategic stability.

Designed and developed by the Israeli company Skylock Systems, a subsidiary of the Avnon Group, Skylock Dome detects, verifies, and neutralizes unauthorized drones.

Morocco acquired five anti-drone defense systems from the Israeli company, the Royal Armed Forces announced in a Facebook post.

“This acquisition is part of the strengthening of the far’s capacities to protect the Kingdom’s critical and sensitive facilities, whether civilian or military,” Far-Maroc Forum said in a post.

“The Kingdom is intensifying its purchases of unmanned anti-aircraft systems or drones, which have become a threat in terms of their ability to recognize or attack with the difficulty of targeting them by conventional defense systems,” it added.

According to Israeli news outlet Globes, the system was first unveiled in February, in the United Arab Emirates at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX), the largest public security and weapons show in the Middle East held every two years in Abu Dhabi.

During the event, several deals were signed and 27 countries, including Morocco, the UAE and some East Asian countries, purchased the Skylock-made anti-drone system.

“Unlike the very large companies, Skylock specializes in simple and relatively cheap defense systems that are extremely effective and provide individual as well as broad protection against the growing threat of attack drones,”

Itzik Huber, CEO of Skylock, said at IDEX.

The news comes as Israel and Morocco continue to further cement their growing relationship on multiple fronts.

According to official reports, the two countries will sign a defense cooperation agreement covering the manufacture of drones in Morocco upon Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz’s arrival in Morocco next week for a two-day official visit on November 24-25.

Last year, Morocco spent an estimated $48 million to purchase from Israel three Heron drones, a type of reconnaissance military equipment, to combat extremist or insurgent groups in Western Sahara.

The reconnaissance drones are equipped with surveillance cameras, video recording systems, and electro-optical systems for day-night vision.

Source: Morocco World News

The testing has led to the adoption of SAPIENT standard by several counter-drone technology suppliers.

The UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) Sensing for Asset Protection with Integrated Electronic Networked Technology (SAPIENT) has completed trials with Nato.

The trials were conducted to assess SAPIENT as a potential Nato standard for counter-drone systems. The UK Ministry of Defence has already adopted the technology as the standard to counter uncrewed air systems (UASs).

SAPIENT’s Interface Control Document (ICD) was tested during the counter-UAS technical interoperability exercise (C-UAS TIE 21).

It enabled more than 70 connections between counter-UAS and command and control systems, as well as linking 17 advanced autonomous sensor modules (ASM) to seven decision-making modules (DSM).

The successful facilitation of connections has resulted in SAPIENT being adopted by the industry.

Dstl Project Technical Authority counter-UAS systems David Lugton said: “Nato TIE adds to the recent success of the SAPIENT deployment at Contested Urban Environment 2021 and builds on its adoption in the UK MOD C-sUAS Strategy.

“The widespread voluntary adoption of SAPIENT by industry across Nato was highly impressive, paves the way to an open commercial market of SAPIENT compliant C-UAS components and places the architecture as a crucial enabler as the demand for rapid C-UAS interoperability increases across the Nato nations.”

The Italian Air Force anti-drone system was deployed to support the Qatari Armed Forces during a sport event. From Nov. 23 to Dec. 20, 2021, the Italian

Le laser anti-drone développé par Cilas, filiale de d'ArianeGroup, pourrait être opérationnel dès 2024 pour protéger les Jeux Olympiques.

Dans un récent rapport parlementaire, les sénateurs appellent à faire de la lutte antidrones une priorité: sur le territoire national, le nombre de drones, en majorité civils, est passé de 400.000 en 2017 à 2,5 millions aujourd'hui. Cette profusion inquiète les autorités qui cherchent à protéger les sites sensibles et les grands évènements.

La sécurité des JO 2024 pourrait être assurée par le système laser Helma-P mis au point pour l'armée par Cilas, une filiale d'ArianeGroup. Ce laser est capable de neutraliser "100% de ses cibles à 1.000 mètres". Ce dispositif est actuellement en phase expérimentale, mais il devrait être opérationnel dès les JO de 2024, selon la PME française Cilas (ArianeGroup). Des essais réalisés cet été à Biscarosse (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) en présence de la ministre des Armées Florence Parly se sont révélés concluants.

"Il est envisagé par les autorités de le déployer pour les JO 2024", affirme Laurent Tard, responsable commercial du projet. Comme la Coupe du monde de rugby 2023 servira de répétition, il est à prévoir que le système y sera également."

Ce système portatif a été présenté au Forum Innovation Défense qui s'est tenu à Paris. Il se présente sous la forme d'un boîtier monté sur un trépied. Il peut détecter les drones, les pointer et les suivre et enfin les neutraliser en plein vol avec un rayon laser. Helma-P est conçu pour les engins jusqu'à 100 kilos jusqu'à 3 kilomètres de distance et les atteindre jusqu'à 1 km. Le laser, d'une puissance de 2 kilowatts, peut aussi "éblouir" un drone en saturant ses capteurs optiques.
Abattre "un drone transportant un sac suspect

Soucieuse de développer une protection antidrones pour les sites militaires, la Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) a lancé cette année son programme Parade (Protection déployable modulaire anti-drones), qui prévoit des investissements d'environ 350 millions d'euros sur 11 ans.

L'armée dispose entre autres de systèmes de brouillages de drones Milad depuis 2017, déployés par exemple au Sahel. "Mais dans les années à venir on va constater une autonomisation croissante des drones qui va les immuniser au brouillage", d'après le cabinet de la ministre des Armées. D'où la nécessité de trouver d'autres moyens d'action, comme le laser, le piratage, des drones intercepteurs ou des canons électro-magnétiques.

Le brouillage électromagnétique présente l'avantage de pouvoir renvoyer le drone à son pilote, ou de le contraindre à se poser en douceur une fois ses batteries déchargées. A l'inverse, la chute de l'appareil neutralisé est inéluctable avec la technologie laser. En dehors des terrains de guerre, elle pourrait s'avérer dangereuse pour le public, ce qui implique des restrictions d'usage.

Toutefois, "ce qui compte c'est de mesurer si la menace dépasse les risques et les enjeux", affirme Laurent Tard qui se demande s'il ne pourrait pas être justifié d'abattre "un drone transportant un sac suspect et se dirigeant vers le stade de France où se déroule la cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux".
Pascal Samama
https://twitter.com/PascalSamama
Pascal Samama avec AFP

Russian armored units are apparently busy developing new countermeasures to drones and possibly top-attack missiles.