The Defense Department’s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System Office (JCO) earlier this month expanded its list of recommended vendor solutions for countering-drones as a service to include offerings from CACI International [CACI] and Rafael Systems Global Sustainment (RSGS).
The two companies join three others, Anduril Industries, Black Sage Technologies, and Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC], that the JCO in September recommended to the military services and Combatant Commands for counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) as a service (CaaS).
The recommendations follow a demonstration in April at Yuma Proving Ground of industry capabilities to provide contractor-owned, government-operated solutions to detect, track, identify and defeat small drones in the protection of a fixed site location in a realistic environment.
An Army spokesman told Defense Daily on Tuesday that CACI and RSGS were added “based on further post-demonstration analysis which showed that the additional systems provided capabilities that should also be considered by the services or combatant commands.” No more vendors will be added from the JCO CaaS Demonstration 3, he said.
CACI’s solution included the company’s Corian 2.0 electronic warfare suite, Leonardo DRS’s [DRS] RPS-82 radar for detecting and tracking of drones, the Corian radio frequency (RF) system for jamming command and control and positioning, navigation timing (PNT) denial, and CACI’s CM262 electro-optical/infrared camera all mounted on a single trailer. The system was integrated with Northrop Grumman’s [NOC] FAAD C2 command and control system.
RSGS, which is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, demonstrated its Drone Dome, which used an RPS-42 from Leonardo DRS, an EO/IR system and an RF detection and mitigation system running on the company’s command and control system.
“Several components are already integrated in U.S. systems and currently deployed worldwide with a variety of RF, PNT, and kinetic effects, with demonstrated effectiveness,” Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, the JCO director, said of Rafael’s solution in a Nov. 3 memorandum updating the recommended vendor list for CaaS. “The architecture is configurable for unique locations and threats.”
RSGS on Monday said that Drone Dome features artificial intelligence capabilities to “provide a more precise picture of the incoming threat” for faster detection and targeting.
Gainey noted that while the JCO recommends the services or combatant commands consider the recommended CaaS solutions, his memo isn’t a requirement to purchase these systems.