Interest in IAI's Drone Guard counter-drone system grows

BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Israel, June 9 (UPI) -- Israel Aerospace Industries reports increasing customer demand for its new unmanned aerial vehicle detection and disruption system, Drone Guard.

"We have managed to pack high-grade military radar and jamming capabilities into a compact, effective and affordable drone protection system," said Nissim Hadas, IAI executive vice president and president of subsidiary ELTA Systems.

"Since unveiling the Drone Guard system earlier this year we are experiencing steadily growing sales and demand of the system for military, HLS [homeland security] and civilian protection tasks."

Drone Guard features ELTA 3D radars -- including the ELM-2026D, ELM-2026B and ELM-2026BF systems -- for short, medium and long detection of small drones, with special detection and tracking algorithms. The radars were also adapted with electro-optical sensors for visual identification.

ELTA also developed adaptive jamming systems, which can be coordinated with the sensors or used as a continuously operated stand-alone system.

The jamming disrupts the drone's flight and can either causes it to return to its point-of-origin or shut down and crash, IAI said.

IAI said several customers have purchased the recently released system for asset and personnel protection and many potential customers have attended dedicated demonstrations of the system.