Anti-drone (Counter-drone)

The US Air Force is clearly serious about combatting the growing threat of small drones deployed for terrorism or hostile military purposes. It has not only developed a weapon capable of taking out scores of drones simultaneously, but it has even named that mighty asset after a fearsome, hammer-wielding Norse god-dash-superhero.

Imagine a formation of unidentified drones brazenly violating banned airspace over a major international event just as dignitaries arrive by helicopter to kick things off. The security threat created would be off the charts – unless you had an enormous high-tech gun capable of picking drones off from far away. That’s exactly what happened, and without fuss, at the opening ceremony of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines in 2019.

With an ever-increasing number of drones being flown around the world, the business of detecting drones has been growing at a similar pace. And now, one of the leading drone detection companies, Dedrone, has announced it has surpassed 1,000 sales of sensors for drone detection.

Airports, for obvious reasons, would like to know if there are drones anywhere nearby that could potentially interfere with crewed aviation operations. So not surprisingly, an increasing number of airports are testing out various drone detection and mitigation technologies. The one we’re writing about today is taking place at the Ottawa International Airport (YOW) and involves some pretty cool tech.

Well, you don’t see this every day: A drone gun, in the wild.

The US military has come up with a new, highly effective weapon for zapping enemy drones out of the skies. Pardon the wonky, technical terminology, but what the Mobile Force Protection (MFP) system does is hock a big loogie of plastic pink stuff that looks suspiciously like Silly String at targeted craft, and down goes Frazier.

Planning on doing some drone flying near the G7 Summit? We’ve got some advice: Don’t even think about it.

Counter drone systems specialist Citadel Defense is vastly enlarging its San Diego presence. The company has unveiled a large array of new facilities – including its headquarters building – as a means of keeping pace with booming demand.

One of the major drone countermeasure companies, CERBAIR, has announced it will be setting up its first presence in Africa, in Morocco. The company, which has been around since 2015, specializes in comprehensive drone countermeasure systems.

Don’t like unfriendly drones buzzing over your property? Don’t know how to detect a malicious drone intruding in your airspace? Well, all you need to do is hop on the internet, because the world’s first cloud-based drone detection software is here to help you track down invasive, reckless drones in real time.

Another (laser) nation heard from. After our post yesterday on efforts by the Italian military to develop drone-culling laser technologies, up steps a small French company boasting its own craft-blasting energy device that it calls nearly ready for the market.

The Italian military is testing the use of direct-energy beams in blasting hostile or unauthorized drones from the skies. The leading sources of those thus far are microwaves and lasers.

Fortem Technologies has announced its Fortem DroneHunter counter-drone product will seamlessly integrate with the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control system (FAAD C2). FAAD C2 was recently announced by the US Army Joint Counter-UAS Office (JCO) as the interim command and control standard for countering small drones.

Counter-drone company Citadel Defense has secured a contract worth $5 million with the US Department of Defense (DoD). The new contract is for the company’s portable Titan counter-drone system, which will be deployed for small drone threats.

Counter-drone company Fortem Technologies has formed a strategic alliance with multinational conglomerate Toshiba to work on a drone detection and mitigation system. The Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation also invested $15 million into Fortem Technologies.

Counter drone company DroneShield has successfully demonstrated its TIPS-C counter-drone solution at a US Air Force Base. The TIPS-C has been produced with Trakka Systems and demonstrated to key decision-makers from a few companies.

A big player in the counter-drone space, D-Fend Solutions has just released survey results discussing counter-drone measures. The survey found that traditional counter-drone systems – jamming and kinetic – are viewed as being inadequate.

The FAA has announced that the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will be one of five to test out its counter-drone tech as it hopes to install it at every airport in the country. The airport has seen drones in the past, making it the perfect place to test the technology.

Australian counter-drone company DroneShield has posted a video of its DroneSentry-X system in action, taking down a DJI Inspire 2 and two racing drones. The short sub-two-minute video shows how counter-drone systems can remove a threat within seconds.

A civil defense authority located in the Middle East has successfully removed a drone threat using Black Sage’s counter-drone technology. The rogue drone flew a little too close to a major public event in the region, triggering the system into action.

DroneShield has partnered with Trakka Systems to combine the detection and situational awareness expertise, creating the TIPS-C counter-drone system. TIPS-C is a mobile system that provides early detection and neutralization of rogue drones in the airspace.