Efforts in the United Arab Emirates to develop counter-UAS (C-UAS) capabilities continue to take shape, after defence conglomerate Edge announced a strategic agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The two parties agreed to develop an advanced solution ‘tailored to the UAE market, with wider ranging benefits for the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region and beyond’, according to an 11 March statement from IAI.
SIGN4L (the EW subsidiary of Edge) will work with IAI on the project, which signifies a deeper level of defence and security cooperation between Israel and the UAE since relations between the two countries were normalised in September 2020.
IAI and its subsidiary Elta have developed multiple proven C-UAS solutions such as Drone Guard and the Iron Drone Interceptor, although the aims of the Israeli-Emirati MoU appear more ambitious.
IAI declared: ‘The C-UAS [will be] fully autonomous requiring no to limited human [involvement]. A series of countermeasures, ranging from jamming to drone destruction, will be offered based on the level of threat and the customer's targeted operating environment.’
The jointly developed C-UAS system will include an advanced C2 element. Components will include radar, optical and RF detection and identification systems; soft-kill solutions (jamming, cyber take over); and guns, missiles, electromagnetic weaponry or laser technology to deliver a hard kill.
Further support will be available via the partnership between IAI and Belgium Advanced Technology Systems, which has a technical and marketing presence in the Middle East.
During the recent IDEX defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi, SIGN4L signed an MoU with MBDA and CILAS to develop of laser-based C-UAS weapon systems.
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