Anti-drone (Counter-drone)

With Ukraine battling dozens of incoming, explosive-packed Russian drones assaulting its cities every night, one additional concern in shooting those craft down is the considerable cost to the nation’s financially strapped defense reserves that involves – a pinch an Australian counter-UAV tech producer is now acting to solve.

Recurring drone disruptions – and the political and business fallout produced by them – that plagued Dublin Airport earlier this year may now be drawing to a close, thanks to clearance from Irish regulators for the platform to begin using counter-UAV assets to deal with the invasive craft.

Counter-drone specialist D-Fend Solutions has announced the launch of its latest product, EnforceAir2, which is flexible enough to be deployed using a portable backpack.

Ukraine will be getting reinforcements to its broadening patchwork of counter-drone assets with the delivery of Cortex Typhon systems from Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, estimated to be worth around £56 million ($70 million).

The US Army has tested an app that allows smartphones to serve as counter-UAV assets by providing visual information and location data of suspicious drones to central authorities.

A new, ubiquitous drone Remote ID network is being rolled out in Singapore. The island nation plans to deploy 50 drone tracking sensors across its entire land area by the end of 2024.

Drone detection, identification, and mitigation specialist Dedrone is introducing an update of its DedroneTracker.AI, incorporating enhancements inspired by client feedback to the cornerstone application of the company’s counter-UAV tech.

The UK Army is preparing to supply combat soldiers with a specially made counter-drone sight known as SMASH, which is designed to considerably increase a fighter’s ability to take out enemy mini- and micro-UAVs while in flight.

A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a new bill in the US House of Representatives to extend existing counter-drone capacities of federal agencies set to expire in September, and partially broaden those to authorities on the state, local, and tribal level.

While drones are doing wonders across multiple industries and sectors, not everyone uses them with good intentions or with complete knowledge of airspace rules and regulations. The latter has become especially true for sporting events in different parts of the world.

Drone detection, identification, tracking, and mitigation tech specialist Dedrone this morning announced the launch of its agile DedroneTactical counter-UAV solution geared for security, military, and government users.

Airspace monitoring and security tech company Dedrone is expanding its work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in testing its drone detection and identification systems at an increasing number of airports, where it will also demonstrate its mitigation solutions for invasive craft.

Drone detection, identification, and mitigation tech specialist Dedrone has introduced its City-Wide data network and UAV reference base that provides users real-time monitoring capabilities of airspaces in nearly 40 cities across the US.

The European Commission, the executive body of the 27-member European Union (EU), is soliciting input from various actors in the UAV sector to help formulate unified guidelines and identify effective counter-drone platforms to mitigate potential threats from small aircraft.

Drone-in-a-box solution specialist Airobotics has launched a fully-automated anti-drone solution, Iron Drone, at the ongoing World Police Summit in Dubai. Instead of relying on GPS or RF jamming, the new AI-powered counter-drone technology uses a net and parachute system to capture the target aircraft.

Officials in Ireland have earned plaudits over the years for encouraging new technologies as drivers of innovation and economic growth, but they aren’t getting any applause for their perplexingly sluggish response in dealing with a series of drone sightings that have disrupted traffic at Dublin Airport, causing multiple flights to be redirected.

Counter-drone specialist DroneShield has released a new firmware update for its AI-powered drone detection, identification, and tracking software DroneOptID.

Booz Allen Hamilton, a global consulting firm and digital integrator for the US Department of Defense (DoD), has made a strategic investment in Hidden Level, a New York-based drone monitoring startup. The investment comes through the company’s corporate venture capital arm Booz Allen Ventures.

Utah-based counter-drone specialist Fortem Technologies has landed $17.8 million in new funding to scale and meet the growing demands across multiple regions and market sectors in airspace safety and security. Key industry investors in the round include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Hanwha Aerospace, and AIM13|Crumpton Venture Partners. Existing investors DCVC and Signia Venture Partners have also contributed funds.

Edgesource, a small company providing contracting services and tech to US government agencies, has revealed that over the course of 2022, it donated $2 million worth of its counter-drone detection system for smaller UAVs to Ukraine for its battle against Russia’s invasion.

Dedrone, a leader in smart space air monitoring, safety, and counter-UAV technology, is broadening its international reach through a new partnership with G4S, a unit of global security group Allied Universal that will integrate drone detection, tracking, and identification solutions into its broader offer to clients.