As governments worldwide continue to refine their regulatory approach to counter-UAV technologies, more companies are jumping into the market and advancing their programs. In December, Germany's Hensoldt demonstrated its Xpeller counter-UAV system at the Airbus airfield in Hamburg.

Xpeller uses a suite of radar, RF, optical sensors, and a targeted jammer. The system can be integrated into existing airport systems. During the demonstration, Xpeller detected UAVs approaching from a a number of locations and was able to identify a variety of UAVs, including small recreational models, from a distance of several miles away. Xpeller can assess a UAV's threat potential, analyze its control signals, and then activate a jammer that disrupts the link between drone and operator or interfere with the drone's navigation. The Xpeller system is modular and can be technologically tailored to meet individual customer requirements and local conditions.

Market for UAS Abatement

Hensoldt has plenty of company. Almost two dozen other companies are working on technologies to defeat drones, spurred on by the FAA's recently announced drone pilot program that includes “counter-UAS security operations” and ongoing U.S. Defense Department initiatives such as the use of directed energy weapons to defeat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS).

Besides the system enunciated by Hensoldt, companies are working on a variety of ways to deliver similar and other technology, including lasers and high-powered microwaves, devoted to UAS (unmanned aicraft systems) abatement. Among the companies and organizations working on such systems are Boeing, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, CACI, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Sanad Academy, Sensofusion, SystemsGrok, Batelle, Blighter Surveillance, Systems DroneShield, Dedrone, CTS Technology, Theiss UAV Solutions, MCTech, Malou Tech, Guard from Above, Saab, UMS Aero Group, OpenWorks Engineering, Advanced Ballistics Concepts, Snake River Shooting Projects, Department 13, DeTect, Drone Defence, and Liteye Systems. Methods include jamming and ballistic interception with munitions and nets.

Some of these systems are very mobile and compact and can be fitted to delivery devices the size of hunting long guns. Some systems, such as Amtec's Sky Net “less lethal” Mi-5 ballistic shells, can be fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. Amtec is the largest volume producer of 40 mm grenade ammunition and fuzing in the world, and is the current sole prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Defense for the 40 mm family of grenade ammunition. The Mi-5s cost $20 for a three pack. The rounds contain five-foot wide capture nets and can down drones up to 55 pounds. The nets travel toward the target, attach to it, and cause it to crash.

Of course there is no shortage of high-tech and dramatically more expensive anti-UAS solutions. The most dramatic of these are targeted laser weapons that are virtually impossible to detect or defend against, exemplified by Boeing's Compact Laser Weapons System that successfully downed a drone during testing in 2015 by burning a hole in it. The laptop-controlled Boeing system is about the size of four suitcases, can be field assembled quickly and operated by two technicians, and operates off 220-volt field power. Lockheed Martin also has an anti-drone laser system, as does Raytheon. The latter also continues to refine its “Phaser” high-powered microwave system that can also be operated off field power such as a diesel engine. The company claims it is faster and therefore more effective than a laser and could be operational within two years.

The U.S. Department of Defense is moving quickly to fund and evaluate counter-drone systems. The department has budgeted $700 million toward rapid development of effective technology and last February hosted a “hard kill challenge” in White Sands, New Mexico, to evaluate prototype systems.

The challenge's focus was on technologies that could hard kill a UAS beyond a range of 250 meters. During the challenge, teams had the opportunity to hard kill a combined 30 rotor- and fixed-wing Group I UASs (mtow less than 20 pounds, altitude under 1,200 feet agl, speed below 62 mph) in scored events and four additional UASs in non-scored events. For the most part, the technologies evaluated at White Sands were less mature and effective than the Pentagon had hoped and left lingering questions with regard to how well they would work against UASs, especially swarming drones. And while the need for anti-UAS in a combat environment is indisputable as groups such as ISIS begin to weaponize drones, widespread deployment of such systems by civil law enforcement creates the possibilities for misidentification and erroneous destruction/damage of UAVs.