U.S. Military Deploys First Fully Integrated Anti-UAV System
By Jof Enriquez,
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United States military forces now are using the Anti-UAV Defense System (AUDS) to neutralize rogue drones used in malicious activity, such as terrorism, smuggling, espionage, or direct combat in remote areas or urban centers.
AUDS was developed by a trio of British technology companies comprising Blighter Surveillance Systems, Chess Dynamics, and Enterprise Control Systems. The system integrates the Blighter A400 Series Ku band electronic scanning air security radar, Chess Dynamics' stabilized electro-optic director, infrared and daylight cameras, target tracking software, and a directional radio frequency (RF) inhibitor/jammer system from Enterprise Control Systems to detect, track, classify, disrupt, and neutralize drones at ranges of up to eight kilometers.
The full-production AUDS is a TRL-9 level system. TRL, short for Technology Readiness Level, is a widely used indicator of a technology’s degree of development toward deployment, measured on a scale of 1-9, with 9 being fully deployment ready. A TRL-9 technology is defined as: System Proven and Ready for Full Commercial Deployment: Actual system proven through successful operations in operating environment, and ready for full commercial deployment.
An updated version of AUDS adds a quad band inhibitor, an optical disruptor, and additional modularity for ease of deployment.
AUDS has been heavily evaluated and tested by U.S., foreign military, and government organizations over the last several months, and has passed mission requirements against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).
This includes tests in South Korea along the 250km demilitarized zone (DMZ), in French government-sponsored trials in Captieux, France, and in U.K. government-sponsored counter-UAV trials (known as Bristow 15) in West Freugh, Scotland.
Bringing this sophisticated anti-drone technology to the United States military is Colorado-based Liteye Systems, which sells, installs, integrates, services, and trains operators of the AUDS system in North America.
"Our team is very proud to become part of the effort to detect, track, identify, and defeat rogue UAVs threatening our Forces," stated Thomas Scott, president of Liteye Systems, in a news release. "As the legitimate use of unmanned vehicles becomes more prevalent in many industries, they become readily available for illicit use by our enemies. With the right technologies, we can provide coverage to our warfighters, while they conduct their mission of protecting against those who wish them harm."
Collaborating with Liteye in the integration of AUDS technology is Maryland-based Tribalco, which provides infield installation and training support to U.S. military personnel.
"Tribalco has been working with Liteye since the inception of AUDS, and through our partnership, we have worked diligently to provide certified AUDS installers and trainers to meet the immediate mission requirements of U.S. Forces," stated Zac Neumayr, VP of Tribalco. "As a global system integrator with extensive experience working with the U.S Military, we understand the importance of enhancing perimeter protection to stay ahead of threats to life or property."