MBDA is showcasing a new quadcopter-based effector concept for its Sky Warden counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system at this year’s Farnborough International Airshow (FIA 2024).
The new capability is the result of a collaboration with US counter-UAV specialist Fortem Technologies and essentially mounts an anti-air munition on a small quadcopter. The system is intended to counter Class 1 (micro-, mini- and small) UAVs, smaller Class 2 (tactical) UAVs and loitering munitions at a fraction of the cost of a surface-to-air missile.
As described by an MBDA spokesman associated with the programme to ESD at FIA 2024 on 22 July 2024, the system “works like a goalkeeper”. Having been cued by MBDA’s Sky Warden C-UAV system to take off and fly towards an incoming threat, the system “will manoeuvre itself to get in the best position in front of the target and uses its onboard radar to get in front of the target and then it uses the radar as a proximity fuze to detonate the warhead, which is directional, which then will take out the drone”.
The warhead weighs less than 3 kg.
MBDA’s Sky Warden is a modular, scalable and evolvable C-UAV system focused on neutralising Class 1 and 2 UAV threats. The system is designed to integrate and control a large range of sensors and effectors and manages the full C-UAV kill chain from detection to neutralisation. It is designed to operate both as an integrated component of a wider layered air defence architecture or in a standalone configuration.
The MBDA spokesman noted that the system was recently demonstrated to 17 customers during a trial in Europe.
Fortem Technologies, meanwhile, is best known for its DroneHunter F700: a multicopter-based C-UAV platform that fires rapidly expanding nets to ensnare hostile UAV targets.
