DroneHunter Able to Integrate with FAAD C2 as C-sUAS Solution, Company Says

摘要

Fortem Technologies said it has proved integration capabilities between its DroneHunter and the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control system (FAAD C2), which was selected as the command and control standard for countering small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) by the Joint Counter-sUAS Office (JCO). This integration comes ahead of planned demonstrations for low collateral interceptors at Yuma Proving Ground in April. Fortem could not disclose if they will be participating in the tests at Yuma, which will be led by the Air Force and could include up to 10 companies. DroneHunter is a kinetic, non-lethal interceptor that can stop even RF-silent UAS, according to Fortem. Integrating DroneHunter required Fortem and FAAD C2 developers to share software interfaces, Spencer Prows, head of engineering at Fortem, told Defense Daily. The systems started by sharing basic messages and progressed to full integration. "It was conducted in stages from basic messages exchanged electronically between the systems to final integration with DroneHunter's functions fully accessible and controlled by FAAD C2," Prows said. "Integration also included definition of desired behaviors of both FAAD C2 and DroneHunter in various real world situations. These are critical safety functions that not only required technical work, but more importantly, they required reasoned decisions from the customer in close coordination with Fortem and the FAAD C2 developer to ensure normal and special cases were addressed. The integration was facilitated by weekly technical discussions and several in-person integration and testing events including live flights against representative threats." In January, Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, JCO director, said the FAAD C2 system would be the basis for the Department of Defense C-UAS effort after releasing the C-sUAS strategy, which focused on open system architecture and interoperability.