Viable counter-UAS (CUAS) systems play a significant role in detecting, identifying, deterring and defeating the rapidly evolving sUAS threat to U.S. forces at home and abroad. This April, the JCO, the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) and the U.S. Air Force held the first collaborative CUAS tech demonstration at Yuma’s Proving Ground. The demo focused on Group 1, the smallest and arguably the most difficult category of UAS to counter. Three companies, Aurora Flight Sciences, ELTA North America, and XTEND participated with their CUAS systems. Of these, XTEND’S SKYLORD GRIFFON, a human-guided autonomous aerial defense platform, stood out by reportedly intercepting more drones in the demo than both of its competitors combined. This article discusses XTEND's CUAS system.
Topics: counter-unmanned aircraft systems, CUAS, Department of Defense, DOD, Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, JCO, Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, RCCTO, U.S. Air Force, demonstration, XTEND, SKYLORD GRIFFON, autonomous aerial defense, Aviv Shapira, U.S. Special Operations, ground-based air defense, GBAD, urban warfare, counter improvised explosive device initiatives, C-IED, subterranean, Sub-T, augmented reaity, AR