Citadel Defense has received a $1.2 million contract from Customs and Border Protection for six of the company’s Titan counter-drone systems for use along the U.S. border with Mexico.
The California-based company says the counter unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will be used to address increasing drone threats in Texas, Arizona and California. It says cartels are using UAS to transport illegal contraband across the border and to help migrants illegally enter the U.S.
CBP declined to discuss its planned operations with the Titan systems but an agency spokesperson tells HSR the counter-drone technology the anti-drone technology will be used for “both pilot evaluation and operations.”
Citadel says the Titan is a smart jamming system that uses adaptive frequency jamming technology to detect, track, identify and defeat potential drone threats without disrupting other electronic signals nearby. Citadel uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to autonomously detect the uplinks and downlinks of a drone threat and its operator in “high-noise environments” to reduce false positives, Christopher Williams, the company’s CEO, tells HSR.
The Border Patrol has been evaluating Titan since May 2018, Williams says. The agency has worked with the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission to be able to operate in certain areas, he says.
Deliveries for CBP will begin the second week of October.
Titan can be used in fixed, mobile and dismounted installations, Williams said.
Other components of the Department of Homeland Security have also acquired Titan systems from Citadel, Williams says, although he declined to name the other customers. Excluding the CBP order and a new order from the Air Force for Titan systems for the Special Forces community, he says Citadel has sold more than 36 of the systems that are deployed for operations.
In addition to CBP, which is a new customer, and the Air Force, Citadel has sold its counter-UAS solution to the Army, Navy, and Defense Department program offices in the National Capital Region, which is the region encompassing the Greater Washington, D.C. area.
Citadel has 23 employees. The company uses a contract manufacturer to produce the Titan system.
Williams says he believes there is interest from CBP for integrating the Titan system with other border security technology systems the agency operates to expand capabilities to detect and counter drones.