Countering hostile UAVs

UAV numbers are growing fast, with different types for a multitude of different uses. Today they range from large MALE and HALE systems (Medium Altitude Long Endurance / High Altitude Long Endurance) to tactical UAVs, mini-drones and micro-UAVs. As components get smaller and become more readily available to all, UAVs will soon be everywhere.

"It's like the story of the computer. At first, you needed a whole room to house a computer. Now, everyone has one in their pocket."
Andreas Rastopoulos, founder of California-based start-up Matternet.

With the exponential increase in sales and availability and the amazing technical advances expected in the near future, UAV are a cause for concern. In both military and civil spheres, they are increasingly seen as a new threat.

Media around the world are full of stories about the potential dangers of UAVs in the hands of terrorists. And a number of recent incidents show that commercially available drones have been flown inside the security perimeters of critical infrastructure including the White House, government embassies and nuclear power plants. In most of these cases, no action was taken to counter the incursions.

With flights over sensitive sites ever more frequent all over the world, hostile UAVs now present military authorities and security services with a serious challenge. Irrespective of a UAV's type or purpose, government agencies and armed forces everywhere are looking for ways to counter the threat.

 

The need for a comprehensive approach

Industry is investigating how best to detect and neutralise hostile UAVs, proposing options ranging from noise signature detection to lasers and jammers — and even UAVs equipped with nets that fly around trying to catch other UAVs. With the constraints imposed by civil aviation authorities, of course, only the most pragmatic proposals will be considered. And, given the urgency of countering the UAV threat, practical solutions need to draw as heavily as possible on existing technologies.

Civil and military authorities alike need ways to detect, identify, classify and neutralise any type of hostile UAV in any setting. They need a full range of sensors, effectors and command-and-control systems based, whenever possible, on off-the-shelf systems and equipment.

Thales is the only European contractor with the innovative products and capabilities to provide comprehensive solutions that are readily tailored to each customer's specific missions.

 

Fighting intruders, everywhere.

For military users, Thales proposes counter-UAV defence solutions that are designed to evolve in line with existing airspace surveillance, air traffic control and air defence systems, adding to the capabilities already in place to protect military bases and theatres of operations. These solutions are based on technically mature products that are already in production and can usefully complement any existing air surveillance system.

In the civil arena, Thales solutions integrate seamlessly with SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems to protect major events or critical infrastructure against small low-flying UAVs while providing additional operational capabilities against these emerging threats. This type of system comprises sensors, non-lethal (soft-kill) effectors, and a central C2 software suite for data correlation.

For security services, Thales uses value analysis to avoid proposing solutions that are too costly or overly sophisticated. Depending on the customer's needs, concepts of operations (CONOPS) analysis may be used to select equipment tailored to different threat scenarios, legal contexts and regulations on radiating sensors and effectors. Tailored solutions can be delivered in just a few months.

 

Is it a bird?

Since the first mini-UAVs took to the air, Thales has been developing ways to detect them.

The first issue that needs to be addressed is how to tell the difference between drones and other bird-like objects. Thales has developed technology that can differentiate between drones and birds to provide practical support to the agencies fighting the new phenomenon, helping them to detect a drone, trace it back to the operator, and intervene as needed. It may be hard to find a needle in a haystack — but having the right tools certainly helps!

 

ANGELAS, A SUCCESS STORY
The roadmap for the future includes developing advanced security solutions to counter fast-evolving threats involving high-tech unmanned air systems.
Thales is one of 25 companies that took part in a competition launched in France in early 2015 and has now been selected for the ANGELAS experimental development project as a member of a consortium led by ONERA, the French aerospace and defence research organisation. The project partners will begin by surveying the needs of key entities including electric utility EDF, the Gendarmerie, police forces, the armed forces and others, with a view to finding new ways to detect and identify UAVs.
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