Ukraine's Kvertus develops defence system for ‘neutralising' UAVs at 1,800 m

Image of the Azimuth detection system, which was designed to detect UAVs, EW systems, and various communications devices, according to the manufacturer. (Kvertus)

Ukrainian counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) manufacturer Kvertus has developed a defence system that is capable of “neutralising drones” at a distance of up to 1,800 m, the company's chief marketing officer Serhii Lavrov told Janes on 12 February.

The ‘Atlas' system is made up of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detection system called ‘Azimuth' and an electronic warfare (EW) system called ‘Mirage'. The company confirmed that it is already being used by several Ukrainian brigades in the combat zone.

Azimuth

The Azimuth detection system identifies UAVs at a distance of up to 30 km and can detect up to 100 UAVs at one time, according to Kvertus. It operates in a passive mode without emitting signals. The device's key advantage is its scanning speed, which enables the operator to monitor frequency hopping. Azimuth has a minimum direction-finding time of 0.04 µs, which references the minimum time between two positions of a UAV that the device detects.

The operator makes the decision on the jamming signals from Mirage once data on the UAV are transmitted from Azimuth. The company plans to automate some aspects of this in the near future.

Mirage