Leidos and the U.S. Army have demonstrated the successful operation of a Counter-small Unmanned Aerial System (C-sUAS) at the Maneuver and Fires Integration Experiment (MFIX) 2024.
The demo was carried out with the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Aviation and Missile Center’s (AvMC’s) Advanced Multilayered Mobile Force Protection (AM2FP) team.
The AM2FP correctly tracked and identified 100% of the presented threats in the presence of clutter. No false negatives or positives were generated by the system during the MFIX flight tests. The AM2FP was the only C-sUAS system that demonstrated tracking and identification of single threats and swarms while operating on the move.
“This is an incredible achievement for our team,” said Leidos Dynetics President Steve Cook. “As the only system in the MFIX capable of autonomously tracking and correctly identifying while moving, we are providing a unique advantage to our customers. While we’re still evaluating all results from the demonstration, the exercise validated our research and ability to deliver new advantages on current and future battlefields.”
The MFIX 2024 event brought together customers from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense to showcase new advancements and performance improvements in the C-UAS field. The AM2FP team improved its performance from last year’s demonstration while also highlighting an additional integration with the Army’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) architecture. Significant innovations in radar performance and threat discrimination were also validated using targets and design reference missions provided by the Government.
During the Distinguished Visitor Day, the AM2FP team demonstrated multi-threat autonomous engagements and defeats. Simultaneously, radar and weapon status were reported to the FAAD C2 system.
“It was an honor to share our capabilities and the art of the possible with these distinguished visitors,” Cook said. “Our success further highlights the need for future investment while maintaining our lead in the latest technological innovations.”
Leidos’ AM2FP work began under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Mobile Force Protection (MFP) program. The program featured a multi-layer defense architecture to defeat unauthorized drone intrusions over fixed-base military installations and on-the-move operations. To meet this need, Leidos developed several capabilities, including the Multifunction X-Band Radar (MXR), an X-Band Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, and a system deploying two types of reusable interceptors. The AM2FP system was designed to autonomously track and disable enemy sUAS while minimizing the risk of collateral damage even in challenging and complex scenarios.
Leidos also created the Co-axial Unmanned Guided Autonomous Rotorcraft (CUGAR). This highly reusable, low cost, low regret, low collateral, autonomous interceptor demonstrated the defeat of Group 1 and 2 sUAS threats.
The current contract for upgrades to the MXR sensor, CUGAR interceptor and the C2 system is managed by the U.S. Army DEVCOM AvMC Radar Operations Facility (ROF) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The U.S. Army DEVCOM AvMC provides increased responsiveness to the nation’s Warfighters through aviation and missile capabilities and life cycle engineering solutions.
