Sierra Nevada outlines its efforts supporting the US Marine Corp’s MADIS Counter-UAV system

Speaking to Monch during the Association of the United States Army exhibition being held in Washington DC between 8 October and 10 October officials from Sierra Nevada disclosed that the firm has delivered several of its Modi Electronic Attack (EA) systems to the US Marine Corps to support its MADIS (Marine Integrated Air Defence System) Counter-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles system. The MADIS consists of an ensemble of sensors including a ground-based air surveillance radar and an optronics system which are used to detect the UAV, and a Radio-Frequency (RF) jammer used to interrupt the RF link between the aircraft and its ground control station to cause the UAV to either land, crash or return to its launching point.

The USMC has deployed the Modi on-board its Polaris MRZR-4 four-wheel drive vehicle with eight vehicles outfitted with MADIS equipping the force, and a further four systems equipping the same number of Oshkosh MATV mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles used by the USMC. Moreover, the MADIS equips the Oshkosh JLTV four-wheel drive armoured vehicles which are equipping the Marine Corps. The architecture of the MADIS equipping the MRZR-4 and MATV is, for all intents and purposes, the same with the exception that the latter has a larger power amplifier affording the Modi extra range. In terms of performance, many of the capabilities of the Modi remain classified, although company sources added that system covers a bandwidth of circa 500 megahertz to six gigahertz. This allows the EA of most UAV RF links, although the firm added that this can be extend upwards in bandwidth if required, while the range of the vehicle-mounted Modi is thought to be circa 1.6 nautical miles (three kilometres).