Army chooses SRC to design and build counter-drone systems to destroy or disable enemy UAVs
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army counter-unmanned aircraft experts are asking Syracuse Research Corp. (SRC) in North Syracuse, N.Y., to build as many as 15 ruggedized deployable counter-drone systems designed to destroy or disable enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced a $65 million contract to SRC on Tuesday to develop, build, and maintain the low slow small unmanned aerial system integrated defeat system.
This counter-UAV equipment is the counter-unmanned aerial system solution necessary for a joint urgent operational need, Army officials say.
Army planners are looking into quick development of systems to shield U.S. and allied military forces from UAV-based improvised explosive devices (IEDs), as well as more sophisticated enemy use of UAVs to attack military forces or civilian targets with deliver explosives.
Related: The dawn of counter-drone technologies
SRC has special expertise in counter-UAV systems, and offers the Silent Archer counter-UAS system, which detects, tracks, classifies, identifies, and disrupts low, slow, and small unmanned airborne threats, commonly referred to as drones.
SRC's Silent Archer combines radar and electronic warfare (EW) systems, a camera, and a 3-D user display to defeat hostile drones operating singly or in pairs, as well as in swarms.
Silent Archer first provides spatial, frequency, and optical surveillance capabilities to detect, track, classify and identify the airborne threat, and then applies low-cost electronic methods to disrupt the UAS, such as jamming the communications links between the operator and the aircraft, SRC officials say.
SRC's counter-UAV system is for force protection in contested environments; critical infrastructure protection; security for VIPs and high profile events; and urban environment surveillance.
SRC experts have demonstrated the Silent Archer anti-drone system at U.S. government-sponsored counter-UAS test events like the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization (JIAMDO) Black Dart counter-drone exercise at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; the Army Warfighting Assessment (AWA) technology assessments; Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) events; and Maneuvers and Fires Integrated Exercise (MFIX) experiments at Fort Benning, Ga., SRC officials say.
Silent Archer comes in three different configurations: expeditionary for use on tactical combat vehicles; fixed site for use at permanent installations; and fly-away kit for quick-deployment use at overseas military operations.
The system's open architecture and sensor-agnostic design supports offers capabilities in direction finding; line-of-bearing information; and wireless networking for communicating among systems and command-and-control centers.
On this contract SRC will do the work in North Syracuse, N.Y., and should be finished by January 2018. For more information contact SRC online at www.srcinc.com, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone Arsenal at http://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
