Raytheon Cleared for COYOTE Block 2 Sales via FMS
The US government has cleared Raytheon to sell the COYOTE Block 2 counter-drone weapon to approved allied nations under foreign military sales (FMS), as part of the HOWLER counter-drone system.
The US Army deployed a combination of the Ku-band radio frequency system (KuRFS) and COYOTE Block 1 last year. The high-speed, highly manoeuvrable Block 2 interceptor-effector is designed to use Raytheon’s KuRFS multi-mission radar as its fire control source. John Hobday, Senior Manager COYOTE and Rapid Development Programs, pointed out the COYOTE Block 2 and KuRFS radar bring the “end-to-end kill chain” to the end user, providing sensing, detecting, identification and lethal engagement. Northrop Grumman’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) provides the system’s command and control.
COYOTE Block 2, as contracted by the US Army, provides for a tube-launched surface-to-air missile. Mr. Hobday emphasized The system “is an adjunct” to the US Army’s broader, counter-rocket, artillery and m (C-RAM) capability, Hobday suggested. “What we’re adding is the higher probability of kill of UAS threats in [US DoD] Groups 1-3 [maximum speed of 250kts].”
COYOTE Block 2 initial operational capability “is expected in 2020, when we’ll introduce Block 2 into theatre,” said Abel Ghanooni, COYOTE CUAS portfolio programme manager.
James McGovern, a business development executive at Raytheon’s Mission Systems and Sensors division, pointed out that UAS the system can defeat range from one with a very small radar cross section “as well as when they come in swarms.” The C-UAS solution is “customizable, tailorable, so you don’t have to have a big radar, you can have a smaller one or the larger KuRFS radar which has already been fielded. We’re looking at a smaller radar that is highly mobile and that is really important. It is scalable, smaller and you can put in more locations as needed,” he added.
There has been “a lot” of interest in COYOTE Block 2 from nations as yet unspecified.
Marty Kauchak
