Echodyne’s EchoShield radar has been selected for BAE Systems’ Anti Threat System (BATS), adding US-made radar technology to a counter-drone platform that recently completed live trials in Scotland.
The radar will provide airspace data to help BATS detect, classify, and track uncrewed aircraft.
Its tracking information will feed into the platform’s command-and-control architecture, allowing it to identify potential threats and coordinate responses.
BAE said the trials demonstrated BATS’ ability to integrate multiple sensors and effectors to respond to evolving drone threats in real time.
The platform uses a modular, software-defined architecture that connects sensors, command systems, and countermeasures. EchoShield will serve as one of its sensors, supplying persistent radar tracks and location data, alongside information from other systems.
“EchoShield provides the precise, stable and persistent radar tracks that allow an intelligent system like BATS to act quickly and confidently against increasingly complex drone threats,” Echodyne CEO Eben Frankenberg said.
EchoShield Radar
EchoShield is a medium-range, software-defined radar that uses Metamaterials Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) technology to steer radar beams electronically and generate tracking data for drones and other objects.
The radar has been selected for several US defense programs.
In September, Echodyne secured a $250-million contract under the Joint Interagency Task Force 401’s Domestic Shield program. The agreement makes the company’s MESA radars available to US and allied buyers through the task force’s Counter-UAS Marketplace.
In April, Echodyne announced that EchoShield would serve as a primary radar in Trust Automation’s Small-Unmanned Air Defense System, which is being delivered to the US Air Force under a $490-million contract.
The system includes rapidly deployable, fixed-site, and expeditionary configurations.