Drone Guard adds Iron Drone’s Interceptor Drone to Defeat Drones, Swarms

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Iron Drone today announced that they have entered a collaboration agreement for the integration of interception capabilities into IAI’s advanced anti-drone system, Drone Guard. Iron Drone’s UAS interception system comprises a docking station that hosts several ready-to-use drones, operable by day or at night. The system can deploy several intercepting drones simultaneously, thus addressing multiple threats or swarms. IAI’s Elta Systems division has developed the Drone Guard to detect, identify, and disrupt the operation of malicious drones. Since Elta Systems launched the Drone Guard’s over 100 units were sold.

The Drone Guard comprises a radar, SIGINT, and Electro-Optical sensors to detect, track, classify and localize drone targets at range, and intercept those targets at a combat-effective distance from their target. To date, IAI’s Drone Guard anti-drone systems employed drone countermeasures utilizing electronic warfare (jamming and deception) or hard kill. With yet another ‘hard kill’ interception that relies on physical engagement with minimal collateral effects, compared to kinetic or directed energy means, Drone Guard can be used in areas where other countermeasures are limited by environmental or safety factors like in airports, populated areas, power plants, sensitive facilities, and other infrastructures.

The Iron Drone offers additional means of response. Its patent-pending drone interception technology allows complete elimination of any drone threat. ELTA’s collaboration with Iron Drone is part of its strategy to collaborate with startups to leverage their innovative technologies for their existing systems to improve performance.

“The combination of Drone Guard’s advanced capabilities with Iron Drone’s steering and homing excellence result in a significant business and technological venture.” CEO of Iron Dron Matan Melamed commented, adding, “Unlike radio-based solutions, our technology doesn’t rely on the link between the hostile drone and its operator. Therefore, the Iron Drone interceptor can eliminate targets that are flying a pre-programmed mission or using secure radio links.”

The advanced radar integrated with Drone Guard detects drones as they enter the defended airspace. Once targets are detected the intercepting drones are launched and steered to the target, directed by the radar. The Iron Drone interceptor uses sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based computer vision to home and locks on the target and homes-in up to the physical contact, leading to the neutralization of the suspected attacker. The entire engagement is autonomous. According to Iron Vision, their system is designed to engage the target with pinpoint accuracy due to its sophisticated computer vision, situational awareness, flight planning, and precision maneuver.”