Modular drone defence system complements NATO Exercise in Lithuania

On 14 May, ESG and its technology partners Diehl Defence and Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) demonstrated its GUARDION modular drone (unmanned aerial systems – UAS) defence system during NATO exercise “HPEX 19” (Harbour Protection Exercise) to leading NATO and Lithuanian representatives, including numerous Chiefs of Navy.

HPEX19 is part of the two-week historic ordonance disposal operation “Open Spirit 2019,” in which Lithuanin Navy supported by NATO Center of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters (NATO COE CSW), German Navy Sea Battalion and German Armed Forces Technical Center for Ships and Naval Weapons, Maritime Technology and Research team WDT 71 units practise the protection of the Klaipeda harbour cruise and naval ships terminal. ESG´s experts for the safe protection against drone threats demonstrated the safe detection and tracking of a sea-launched drone, as well as the potential use of appropriate counter-measures in a demanding scenario in a port environment.

GUARDION impressed the high-level participants of the demonstration with its exceptional performance as a modular, scalable, and highest security requirement in complex scenarios. The GUARDION anti-drone solution developed by ESG and its co-operation partners is based on the tried-and-tested system used to secure the ceelbrations on the Day of German Unity in Berlin 2018 or different major political events such as the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017, US President Obama’s state visit in June 2016 and the G7 summit in Elmau in 2015.

ESG is responsible for the selection, integration and networking of powerful sensors, the optimised situation overview using the TARANIS command & control system developed by ESG and the connection to existing IT networks and infrastructure. GUARDION provides scalable solutions for secure detection and defence against drones in stationary, mobile or deployable configurations, adapted to the individual requirements of customers and situations. Providing automatic detection and classification of both drone and pilot with a comprehensive portfolio of sensors including radio frequencies (RF) analysis and direction finders (R&S ARDRONIS), radars, EO solutions for visual verification and acoustic arrays, GUARDION is capable of detecting multiple targets simultaneously. R&S ARDRONIS focuses on the remote control radio link of commercial drones. The subsystem can detect and identify the drone and take bearings on the remote controller even before the drones take off. Its ability to distinguish the remote control signals from other emissions within the same frequency band makes it highly reliable. R&S ARDRONIS alerts security personnel early on so they can respond to the potential threat in a timely manner.