Fortem Technologies, a provider of airspace security and defense solutions for detecting and defeating dangerous drones, has announced that their DroneHunter successfully defeated threat drones during a recent US Army test in Yuma Proving Ground, AZ. DroneHunter is an AI-enabled, radar-guided drone that locks onto its target, fires a net, captures the threatening drone and tows it to a safe deposit location. Kinetic and non-lethal, the DroneHunter results in no/low collateral damage.
DroneHunter performed completely autonomously from queuing through launch, intercept, and capture of the threat drones, depositing them in a designated safe drop zone and landing. During the test, DroneHunter engaged fixed-wing and rotary-wing targets of various speeds, size, altitude and flight characteristics at operationally significant ranges with a high Probability of Kill (Pk). Fortem has partnered closely with the Army's Integrated Fires/Rapid Capabilities Office for the past two years as part of their system of systems approach to counter-UAS. DroneHunter provides a significant enhancement to the overall counter-UAS solution.
Fully integrated with the Army's Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) system, DroneHunter successfully accepted command and engagement orders. Using radar queuing from various radars in the Army's Fixed Site Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), DroneHunter successfully engaged and negated targets.
"This test is further proof that the Fortem DroneHunter is capable of defeating UAS threats in a rigorous operational environment," said James Housinger, VP of Program Management at Fortem Technologies. "With full integration into FAAD C2, operators can employ DroneHunter as a defensive weapon against a wide range of small UAS threats - threats which are one of the top concerns of U.S. Combatant Commanders in multiple areas of responsibility. The system's 24/7 readiness for immediate employment day or night, or in restricted visibility without the need for a pilot, makes it an extremely effective tool against those threats."
