Anti-drone (Counter-drone)

The European Commission, the executive body of the 27-member European Union (EU), is soliciting input from various actors in the UAV sector to help formulate unified guidelines and identify effective counter-drone platforms to mitigate potential threats from small aircraft.

Drone-in-a-box solution specialist Airobotics has launched a fully-automated anti-drone solution, Iron Drone, at the ongoing World Police Summit in Dubai. Instead of relying on GPS or RF jamming, the new AI-powered counter-drone technology uses a net and parachute system to capture the target aircraft.

Officials in Ireland have earned plaudits over the years for encouraging new technologies as drivers of innovation and economic growth, but they aren’t getting any applause for their perplexingly sluggish response in dealing with a series of drone sightings that have disrupted traffic at Dublin Airport, causing multiple flights to be redirected.

Counter-drone specialist DroneShield has released a new firmware update for its AI-powered drone detection, identification, and tracking software DroneOptID.

Booz Allen Hamilton, a global consulting firm and digital integrator for the US Department of Defense (DoD), has made a strategic investment in Hidden Level, a New York-based drone monitoring startup. The investment comes through the company’s corporate venture capital arm Booz Allen Ventures.

Utah-based counter-drone specialist Fortem Technologies has landed $17.8 million in new funding to scale and meet the growing demands across multiple regions and market sectors in airspace safety and security. Key industry investors in the round include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Hanwha Aerospace, and AIM13|Crumpton Venture Partners. Existing investors DCVC and Signia Venture Partners have also contributed funds.

Edgesource, a small company providing contracting services and tech to US government agencies, has revealed that over the course of 2022, it donated $2 million worth of its counter-drone detection system for smaller UAVs to Ukraine for its battle against Russia’s invasion.

Dedrone, a leader in smart space air monitoring, safety, and counter-UAV technology, is broadening its international reach through a new partnership with G4S, a unit of global security group Allied Universal that will integrate drone detection, tracking, and identification solutions into its broader offer to clients.

Airspace security specialist Dedrone is again moving to expand its business to keep pace with growing US and international demand for UAV detection and mitigation solutions with its acquisition of Arizona’s drone detection company Aerial Armor.

Federal law enforcement officials at Sunday’s inauguration ceremony for Brazil’s president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, say they used an anti-drone gun to bring down four “suspicious” aircraft heading toward the president.

The profile of smaller drones is rapidly expanding in both the planning and execution of global conflicts, and in reaction defense and security company BAE Systems has continued adaptation and testing of less costly munitions to battle mid-sized UAVs as an option to larger and more sophisticated anti-air systems. 

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has joined a chorus of voices urging Congress to take steps to maintain or expand the counter-drone capacities of US security authorities, backing up his urging with revelations of the agency’s ongoing investigations into UAVs being equipped to transport homemade bombs.

Although not ready for deployment just yet, a new UK anti-drone weapon known as DragonFire has delivered some impressive results in testing at the very time people in Ukraine are hoping for new tech capable of neutralizing the brutal missile and UAV attacks on the nation’s cities.

Leading smart airspace security company Dedrone is integrating Axis Communication cameras into its counter-UAV command and control platform, adding multi-sensor visual assets to its array of artificial intelligence- and machine learning-enhanced tech.

Switzerland delivered more bad news for fans of counter-drone raptor action – but a welcome development for animal rights activists – with the announcement by police in Geneva that two eagles trained to take out drones in flight are being reassigned to other duties.

Leading airspace protection company Dedrone is broadening the range of activity of its drone detection and identification tech into everyday circumstances by teaming up with Johnson Controls, a specialist in building and venue safety services.

Counter-UAV detection and mitigation specialist Dedrone has unveiled its new hand-held DedroneDefender solution for effectively jamming invasive craft in urban environments.

Ukraine officials aghast at Moscow’s merciless aerial attacks on the nation’s cities and civilian targets take note: US airspace security and protection specialist Fortem Technologies has upgraded its DroneHunter F700 anti-UAV system to more effectively defeat even larger and faster Group 3 craft like Russian Orlan-10s and Iranian Shahed-136s.

Moves are afoot in Congress to pass legislation replacing existing laws expiring October 5 authorizing the identification and mitigation of drones posing security threats. Yet a new House of Representatives bill aiming to do that reportedly falls well short of the robust proposals circulated by the White House earlier this year.

Just about the time Iranian drones supplied to Russia began appearing in the skies over Ukraine last week, press reports surfaced purporting a company in Israel is moving to step around the nation’s formal refusal to take sides in the conflict by ushering anti-UAV defense systems to Kyiv using Poland as an intermediary.

Ahead of Thursday night’s kickoff of the National Football League’s (NFL) 2022 season, officials stepped up to reiterate concerns about the looming expiration of legislation that allows a limited number of federal agencies to take out drones invading airspaces or otherwise posing threats during large events.