Leonardo DRS has completed its first open-water demonstrations of a maritime Mission Equipment Package (MEP) designed for counter-UAS operations, the company announced on August 13.
The system, adapted from Leonardo DRS’s land-based mobile short-range air defense and counter-UAS platforms, is intended for installation on small uncrewed surface vessels. It is aimed at extending ship protection against aerial and surface threats without placing personnel in high-risk positions.
Testing took place in open-sea conditions and involved the detection, identification and tracking of aerial threats, as well as tracking of surface vessels.
The MEP configuration used in the demonstration combined multiple Leonardo DRS technologies, including the BlackLab passive radio-frequency detection system, the STAG electro-optic/infrared gimbal with thermal cameras and a tactical data management system using the company’s sensor-fusion software.
The maritime MEP is designed to be modular and platform-agnostic, with the ability to integrate active and passive RF sensors, EO/IR systems, 4G/5G electronic-warfare tools and both kinetic and non-kinetic effectors. The company says the system’s open-architecture approach is intended to support rapid integration of future technologies.
Leonardo DRS develops and integrates systems for the U.S. military and allied forces across multiple domains, including force protection, C5I and naval power and propulsion.
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Post Image Credit: Leonardo DRS
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