Autonomous air defense prototype from L3Harris gets demo at Army exercise
NewsAugust 08, 2024
MELBOURNE, Fla. The L3Harris Agile Development Group demonstrated its robotic, highly mobile, short-range air defense capability prototype at the recent Army-hosed Project Convergence Capstone 4 (PC-C4) field experiment.
The prototype system participated in the 2024 PC-C4 field experiment -- a series of exercises, experiments, and events to identify and refine strategies the U.S. Army hopes to use -- and demonstrated its integrated advanced long-range surveillance and electronic attack (EA) capabilities using a fully autonomous combat vehicle. Additionally, the team adapted beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) operations to an additional platform while at the event, demonstrating the technology's ability to respond to emerging robotic system demands.
During the exercise, the prototype navigated approximately 175 kilometers (108.7 miles) of challenging terrain over six days and demonstrated its capabilities across various mission scenarios, according to the company account. These demonstrations included counter-uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) surveillance and electronic warfare (EW), with an autonomous multisensor cross-cueing payload able to provide early warning of air threats, operated from over 26 kilometers away; dynamic reconnaissance en route to surveillance positions, capturing optical data on-the-move at BLOS ranges; precision accuracy of the WESCAM MX-10D reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition multisensor imaging and designator system; and several communications tests, providing insights related to integration, performance, and applicability of modular and open communication systems.
