This Counter-UAS Device Can Protect Sensitive Locations

Via Wikimedia Commons.

These last several years have seen the conversion of hobbyist drones into tools for hostile actors. While it’s true the most common employment of unmanned aircraft remains surveillance, numerous incidents elsewhere featured commercial quadcopters flown for either criminal or offensive purposes. It isn’t surprising the risks of widespread disruptive activities caused by unmanned aircraft is creating strong demand for countermeasures to defeat them. Whether from governments or private companies, vulnerable locations are now at the mercy of unmanned aircraft if there are no defenses in place for stopping these.

One company from Spain, Aeronáutica SDLE, harnessed its expertise in unmanned tech to produce a cost-effective portable counter-UAS (CUAS) device for soldiers and security professionals alike.

Aeronáutica SDLE is an aerospace and engineering firm known for its growing family of vertical take off UAVs. But a recent addition to its impressive catalog is the Anti-Drone System for disabling and disrupting unmanned flying objects spotted near sensitive locations. The Anti-Drone System is a man-portable device whose characteristics are on par with global standards for other CUAS jammers. Since it’s made in Spain, it’s among the newest CUAS equipment to emerge from the country.

When in use, the Anti-Drone System is effective up to 2,000 meters and has a detection radius of 800 meters. It was designed to cancel remote control, telemetry, and video links and is proven to work against GPS and GLONASS navigation. When a suspicious unmanned flying object is detected, the Anti-Drone System can jam 2.4 GHz datalink frequencies and neuter 5.8 GHz videolink frequencies. It’s also applicable versus custom and multiband frequencies such as 1.2 GHz, 5.8 GHz, 433 GHz, and 915 GHz.

The Anti-Drone System isn’t a single use device and is a powerful countermeasure against multiple targets. Aeronáutica SDLE guarantees its CUAS can engage an unlimited number of drones if the operator is cleared to engage them.

Some of the biggest risks posed by malicious drone flights, especially when these involve portable rotorcraft such as quadcopters, is to disrupt operations in a given site. In extreme cases the drones themselves are weaponized and are able to cause grave harm on people. The concept of “assassination-by-drone” is now far removed from any drawing board and has been attempted in several countries. Another dangerous feature of portable drones is their payload. These are often cameras but on many occasions, when off-the-shelf drones are repurposed in active war zones, improvised explosives are attached to their airframes.

What makes the Anti-Drone System a sound investment is how subtle it can be. Rather than force onsite security to scramble for a countermeasure, or resort to using firearms in a public space, once a malicious drone flight is detected and identified a sole operator equipped with the Anti-Drone System can take care of the matter within seconds. The multi-use function of the Anti-Drone System allows it to defeat several targets in just minutes if the situation proves far more complex.

Man-portable CUAS devices are the first line of defense for addresses and locations that require layered security. While countermeasures are becoming more complex overtime, with elaborate layouts of detection systems now employed in large commercial and public sites, hardware such as the Anti-Drone System by Aeronáutica SDLE is an essential primary defense for institutions and organizations that must protect their structures from malicious drone activities and possible sabotage. The company is now open to inquiries and can be reached here.