Jammer resistant drone designs spark search for countermeasures
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has driven another stage of evolution for drones and the counter measures to defend against them.
BAE Systems has been selected by Lockheed Martin to provide key autonomy and AI capabilities to the DARPA Squad X programme. The contract is worth $3.5 million and will build on BAE Systems’ portfolio of autonomous technologies.
The BAE Systems FAST Labs R&D organisation will provide Mission Intelligence for Tactical Systems (MITS) advanced sensor fusion, AI and autonomy. It will then construct and share battlefield awareness, distributing this data to frontline personnel.
Chris Eisenbies, product line director of the Autonomy, Controls and Estimation group at BAE Systems, said: ‘Autonomy technology – be it in the air, space, sea or ground domain – is all about making better decisions faster to allow our warfighters to more effectively execute their missions as safely as possible… We look forward to the prospects of providing this advantage to those in the field.’
The Squad X programme is seeking to design, develop and validate autonomous system prototypes and equip them with sensing tools and off-the-shelf tech.
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The Russia-Ukraine conflict has driven another stage of evolution for drones and the counter measures to defend against them.
The new Amorphous software is a universal controller that would allow a single operator to control a swarm of “thousands” of uncrewed systems, from drones to underwater platforms.
India UAV supplier ideaForge has launched the Netra 5 and Switch V2 drones at Aero India 2025, boasting of enhanced endurance, AI-driven autonomy and improved operational capabilities.
The UAV market is experiencing unprecedented growth, with innovations in technology and battlefield applications driving demand across military sectors. From the battlefields of Ukraine to NATO exercises and beyond, drones are transforming how wars are fought and supported.
Launched at AUSA in October, the company’s multi-stream video codec is attempting to bring a new lease of life to drone technology through its AI accelerator.
Quantum-Systems has been upgrading its UAS family, with new versions of the Vector, Reliant and Twister drones set for release throughout 2025.