Security orders grow for Northrop Grumman’s FAAD C2

Northrop Grumman has its FAAD C2 system on a show stand for the first time at Eurosatory 2024 and is riding the wave of demand for its use as a CUAS system in both security and defence applications.

The company got ahead of the curve with CUAS development of a system which initially was designed for Short-Range Air Defence (SHORAD) and Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (C-RAM) missions but has been worked on for the CUAS role since 2015.

It is a software system which can be deployed on any ruggedised tablet and can be soldier carried or vehicle mounted and in a defence scenario can be used to support jamming of UAS or the deployment of physical or kinetic effects.

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FAAD C2 programme manager for FAAD C2 Brian Jensen said the company was seeing increasing demand for security applications with border and commercial and critical asset protection have been identified as key security applications.

Jensen noted that in security applications the effectors were different to defence applications such as a reliance on jamming and less kinetic effects. As with military applications it is capable of tracing signals to the operator and allowing reactions such as policing enforcement as opposed to direct fires.

“The system has been deployed globally and is in service mostly with the US Army but also with US Air Force and USMC,” Jensen said.

Jensen noted that FAAD C2 relied on exterior sensors and other systems to define its capability so that, for example, identifying different types of UAS was dependent on the type of sensor.

Last year, the company outlined how the system had been successfully fielded in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, creating air and missile defence interoperability among Baltic, NATO and US forces.

Civilian CUAS operations, drawing upon military technology, has grown rapidly in the past 10 years following high-profile shutdowns of airports from a ballooning number small commercial and hobby drones flying off the shelves at major retailers.

Companies such as Droneshield and MARSS have been targeting the market or are already providing products to it, as airport owners and operators feel the financial hit, with millions of dollars in lost earnings inspiring action.

Shephard's Eurosatory 2024 coverage is sponsored by: