To contend with the growing threat to naval and commercial vessels operating at sea from hostile unmanned aircraft system (UAS), an innovation arm of the Defense Department is soliciting proposals for “technically mature” maritime counter-UAS (C-UAS) capabilities to defeat large drones.
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) last Friday said its Counter NEXT effort seeks kinetic defeat capabilities against Group 3, 4, and 5 UAS, which covers all drones with a maximum gross take-off weight greater than 55 pounds.
High-powered microwave and directed energy defeat capabilities will not be considered, DIU says.
The U.S. Navy plans to rapidly prototype and operationally test and evaluate the performance of at least one solution, which potentially would be used on various naval platforms worldwide.
As usual, DIU plans to move quickly. Bids are due by June 28 and awardees must be ready to conduct a baseline assessment of their solutions at a Navy test site within 90 days of award and provide five production representative prototypes within a year of award.
DIU’s Commercial Solutions Opening says that solutions must integrate with a ship’s existing combat systems and receive a track from these systems to help detect and track a target, using both “human in/on-the-loop control modes.” Bidders can assume their solutions will receive a radar track from a naval vessel’s combat system and can also use passive systems such as electro-optical and infrared sensors that do not interfere with a vessel’s existing sensors.
DIU highlights recent drone attacks by Houthi rebels operating in Yemen against shipping in the Red Sea that have resulted in mariner deaths, the loss of a commercial vessel, and damage to others that have driven up shipping and related insurance costs, and lowered trade volume in the waterway.
“The U.S. is committed to protecting commercial maritime trade and, more importantly, service members conducting maritime operations in contested environments,” the solicitation says.
Some of the other attributes that DIU and the Navy are looking for include being able to being able to reload the kinetic effector at sea without heavy lift equipment, demonstrating a defeat capability for ship self-defense greater than 90 percent within a radius of about 15 kilometers, an area defense capability for nearby commercial shipping that entails killing a target more than 70 percent of the time at ranges beyond 15 kilometers, lower cost per kill versus traditional air defense systems vis-à-vis the threat, terminal guidance integrated into the effector, an accelerated kill chain, and adaptability to evolving threats.
Solutions that meet DIU’s and the Navy’s primary attributes and can show they can be adapted to counter “uncrewed systems in other domains may be given preference,” the solicitation says.