Northrop Demos Counter-UAS Tech Platforms; Chuck Johnson Comments

 has demonstrated the company’s mobile acoustic sensing and electronic attack systems during the Defense Department’s annual counter-unmanned aerial systems exercise.

The Mobile Application for UAS Identification and the Drone Restricted Access Using Known EW technologies were exhibited as part of DoD’s Black Dart exercise managed by the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization, Northrop said Wednesday.

Northrop’s mobile application for UAS Identification operates on Android cell phones to detect drones that weigh less than 20 pounds and fly lower than 1,200 feet (Group 1 drones) with the use of the phone’s microphone

The company’s Drone Restricted Access Using Known EW provides a nonkinetic electronic attack of Group 1 drones.

“The proliferation of UAS threats is a growing concern,” said Chuck Johnson, director of integrated fires at Northrop Grumman mission systems business.

“In the highly complex threat scenarios we are seeing, the users need innovative and agile capabilities such as beyond-line-of-sight detection and nonkinetic negation that can be rapidly integrated with fielded systems,” added Johnson.