DoD counter-UAV contract will use Blighter radar tech
NewsOctober 25, 2018
CAMBRIDGE, U.K. British company Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd. -- which designs and makes electronic-scanning (e-scan) radars and surveillance solutions -- is under contract to supply its counter-UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] radar technology to Liteye Systems (Centennial, Colorado and Colchester, U.K.) as part of Liteye's recently signed multimillion-dollar contract with the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) to deliver numerous containerized anti-unmanned aircraft systems (known as C-AUDS) to the DoD by the end of the fourth quarter of 2018.
Under the terms of the agreement with Liteye, Blighter is supplying its A400 series air security/drone detection radars -- modular nonrotating e-scan systems that use PESA (passive electronically scanned array) and FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) technologies -- to Liteye as part of the DoD contract.
The Blighter Ku-band micro Doppler A400 series radars, which are able to detect microdrones and larger unmanned systems at speeds from full flight down to hover-drift, also feature digital drone detection (D³) technology, which enable them to detect the tiny reflections from modern plastic-body drones even when they are flying close to the ground or near buildings.
Mark Radford, CEO of Blighter Surveillance Systems, said of the agreement: “We are delighted to be supplying our counter-UAV radar to Liteye for the U.S. Defense Department. Yet again, we see our field-proven, mission deployed Blighter A400 series radars being selected to respond to the very real strategic threat posed by rogue unmanned systems.”