Army asks RTX Raytheon to build counter-UAV missile system to track and defeat enemy swarming threats

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army anti-aircraft experts needed an affordable missile for high-speed counter-uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) missions. They found their solution from the RTX Corp. Raytheon segment in El Segundo, Calif.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced a $196.7 million contract to RTX Raytheon in September for Coyote interceptors.

The kinetic effector of the Coyote counter-UAV system is a low-cost, rail-launched missile variant with a boost rocket motor and a turbine engine for high-speed counter-unmanned aircraft system missions, Raytheon officials say.

The small and expendable Coyote can shoot down small-to-large enemy UAVs at long ranges and high altitudes, and can defeat single-drone threats as well as swarms of enemy attacking UAVs.

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Paired with the Raytheon Ku-band radar, Coyote can detect and counter hostile UAVs, as part of the Army’s currently deployed Low, slow, small, unmanned aircraft Integrated Defeat System (LIDS).

The Coyote missile can deploy from the ground, air, or surface warships, and can operate individually or networked with other Coyote UAVs in swarming operations for surveillance, electronic warfare (EW), and strike missions.

The system will operate for as long as one hour, and can carry out surveillance imagery, enhanced targeting, near real-time damage assessment, and reduced threat to manned aircraft missions.

The U.S. Army has selected the Coyote for near-term counter-unmanned systems with an advanced seeker and warhead. In 2016 demonstrations on land and at sea, more than two dozen Coyote systems launched in a swarm and moved in formation, demonstrating the effectiveness of autonomous networking.

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The block 3 Coyote is being designed to provide intelligence and strike capability when launched from unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

Raytheon announced in August 2021 that a demonstration of the Block 3 in an air intercept test had used a non-kinetic warhead to defeat a swarm of 10 drones. The Block 3 Coyote has a traditional UAV design with wings and an electric motor similar to the original Coyote Block 1, but is bigger in size.

On this contract, Raytheon will do the work in Dulles, Va., and should be finished by September 2027. For more information contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.