Silent Archer Detects and Destroys

Silent ArcherWith counter-UAS (C-UAS) technology a quickly expanding market with an immediate requirement, SRC will be showcasing its Silent Archer C-UAS to the US Army at AUSA in Washington DC.

The company is in the final development phase of the system and has used equipment from existing programmes of record within Silent Archer.

SRC said it is responding to an urgent needs statement issued by the US Army for C-UAS technology. By offering up repurposed equipment the company is hoping that the US Army will utilise this as a cost-saving, low risk solution.

‘We are using the army’s AN/TPQ50 radar which we have delivered for radar counter fire,’ explained Jim Daniels, VP of international business at SRC, ‘we have then repurposed this through a series of upgrades and enhancements for use in Silent Archer.’

The company believes that if selected to fulfil the US Army requirement Silent Archer would be ready to go into the field. At this time it is at technology ready level (TRL) eight and by the time it could go into full rate production it would be at TRL nine.

The AN/TPQ50 system is able to provide point of origin calculations. The systems other components include an electronic warfare (EW) systems, EO/IR camera, user display and an optional direction finding (DF) unit.

‘The systems allows for non-kinetic defeat meaning it doesn’t shoot anything,’ explained Daniels, ‘It uses the EW system to defeat the threat. The hardware and software from this were part of ‘Crew Duke’ which is a counter-IED system used by the US Army.’

Crew Duke, the AN/VLQ12, uses software-defined architecture and while in service the company has continually provided updates to enhance its capability to new and emerging threats.

The DF unit allows the C-UAS system to detect and classify any UAV and when utilised with the EW system can also provide operations with the location of both the UAS and its operators.

Source: Shephard Media

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