Nine C-UAS platforms named in British Army's Project Vanaheim trials

L3Harris' Corvus-Raven C-UAS, which focuses on countering Class 1 UASs, at Project Vanaheim trials. (L3Harris Technologies)

The British Army tested at least nine counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UASs) during a trialling event as part of Project Vanaheim, a UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) source confirmed to Janes on 1 August.

The C-UASs were deployed on Jackals, but they can also be used in a dismounted configuration, the MoD source said. The Supacat High Mobility Transporter (HMT) 400 is dubbed the Jackal by the British Army. Many of the C-UASs used during the trialling were integrated into the British Army network through the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK).

RF systems

The British Army used a mixture of systems that can detect and effect, including utilising both hard and soft kills, as part of the C-UAS trials. The systems included electro-optical cameras, radars, smart sights, and acoustic sensors, according to the representative. “The RF [radio frequency] equipment had a mixture of effects, from disrupting the link between the drone and the ground control station to using CEMA [cyber and electromagnetic activities] effects to hijack the drone's protocol to take control of it and give commands,” the defence ministry source said.

According to the MoD source, the systems with electro-optical cameras could detect “anything that was in their field-of-view including fibre-optic drones”.