Thales Partners With British Firm on Drone-Mounted Electronic Warfare Solution
Thales and UK firm Autonomous Devices have partnered to jointly develop a drone-based electronic warfare solution for naval and land forces.
The venture will deliver the EW-UAS1, pairing Thales’ electronic-warfare payload with a long-endurance, highly maneuverable drone from Autonomous Devices.
Delivered as a turnkey solution, the platform will provide electronic support for detecting, identifying, and localizing threats, alongside offensive electronic-attack capabilities such as jamming.
According to the developers, the solution is undergoing initial testing, which will continue throughout the year.
“The drone-based electronic warfare solution developed by Thales and Autonomous Devices is a technological game-changer for the armed forces, providing a reliable passive capability to counter modern threats while ensuring long-range protection around their strategic assets,” VP for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at Thales, Marie Gayrel, said.
Drawn From Recent Conflicts
The platform’s conception responds to the growing demand for both defensive and offensive electronic warfare solutions across all domains of military operations.
For example, the system can be employed as a ship self-protection solution to detect and defeat incoming anti-ship missiles using electronic countermeasures, thereby reducing the need for kinetic ordnance.
It offers proactive protection for sensitive assets on both land and in the sea, using jamming to degrade enemy radar and targeting and to bolster theater-level electronic defenses.
Additionally, it can be employed for passive detection and surveillance, broadening detection coverage to provide early warnings of threats.
Quick to reposition, the drone detects enemy radar emissions — including weapon guidance, targeting, and surveillance — and jams or manipulates them to create a false radar picture, confusing operators and steering missiles away from sensitive assets.
“The integration of these technologies in a turnkey solution promises to unlock EW (electronic warfare) capabilities well beyond the state of the art, providing an effective counter to rapidly evolving threats, and this agreement represents a significant step en route to delivering these capabilities to the warfighter,” Autonomous Devices CEO Ken Wahren added.
