UK counter-drone and radio frequency (RF) threat specialist Metis has won a contract to supply a number of its Skyperion drone detection systems to a NATO customer as part of an integrated counter-uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) capability, the company announced on 10July 2025.
The client was not named, Metis explained, “due to the sensitive nature of the capability, and to maintain operational advantage”.
The purchase bolsters the customer’s current C-UAS capabilities, helping safeguard their airspace, key installations and critical infrastructure against the threats posed by rogue drones. It also means that four NATO nations have ordered the Skyperion system and that there are now over 80 Skyperion systems in operation with NATO partners or deployed supporting their national security interests in current operations globally.
The Skyperion product range captures RF emissions of varying strengths across the spectrum, filtering out background noise and known entities before rapidly analysing them to identify and locate potential threats.
Metis products such as Skyperion are designed and manufactured as modular systems with an open architecture, enabling seamless integration with other electronic warfare capabilities and systems. This allows sovereign nations, large primes or systems integrators to easily incorporate Metis products with other best-in-class technologies to defeat rogue drones.
Metis noted in a press release that with Skyperion it has combined an Open ESM artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced waveform analysis algorithm with a more traditional library database to deliver a self-learning comprehensive RF detect function across a vast array of frequencies. The system can detect a drone signature out to 2.5 km and, depending on the target, environment and other factors, successfully identify a rogue drone out to 10 km.
With the just announced contract the customer will be using Skyperion systems in a fixed-site role, but the Skyperion Rugged version can be easily transported in military-grade rugged cases, can operate in a mobile role if required and is designed and constructed to survive in the most austere of conditions.
