US to trial British anti-drone system at airports

The US Federal Aviation Administration is undertaking airport trials of a counter-drone system developed jointly by three UK companies.

Anti-UAV Defence System (AUDS) is able to detect drones up to 10km away using Ku band electronic scanning radar provided by Essex-based Blighter Surveillance Systems. Once detected, the UAV is tracked with infrared and daylight cameras, and specialist video tracking software. This part of the system is delivered by Chess Dynamics of West Sussex. Finally, a directional radio frequency (RF) inhibitor from Northamptonshire’s Enterprise Control Systems disables the UAV.

“AUDS is able to operate effectively in complex airport environments night and day whatever the weather and without disrupting other airport equipment,” said AUDS spokesman Mark Radford. “Using AUDS, the operator can effectively take control of a drone and force a safe landing inside or outside the airport perimeter.”

According to the AUDS partners, the entire operation from threat detection to grounding typically takes 8-15 seconds. The team has carried out over 400 hours of ‘live’ testing in government related trials against more than 400 flown sorties of group 1 UAVs.