The US Army has awarded a USD5,5 million multiple-year contract to SAIC and Liteye Systems to integrate the company’s SHIELD counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) payload in the US Army (RCCTO) High Energy Laser (HEL) prototype effort.
The objective of the C-sUAS HEL prototype effort is to develop, integrate, manufacture, and ultimately test a prototype HEL system(s) in an operationally relevant environment. This contract enables the rapid prototyping of a near-production representative, cost-effective HEL system(s), which will be integrated with current military battle management systems.
Liteye’s SHIELD payload will provide the detection, tracking, and identification of Group 1 & 2 UAS in a range of combat environments which will utilize the new 3D SPYGLASS Radar developed in Colorado with Numerica Corporation. The HEL “hard kill” capability will be provided by a partner company and integrated with Liteye’s SHIELD payload to be tested and demonstrated during operational tests and evaluations. The platform integration of SHIELD will support the US Army’s maneuver capability in the Brigade Combat Teams and will also be compatible with robotic vehicles like Pratt & Miller’s Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle (EMAV).
“This effort represents more than 15 months of focused effort by our team and renews our strategic partnership with the US Army dating back to 2016 when we sent our first C-sUAS systems downrange,” said Kenneth Geyer, CEO and Co-Founder of Liteye Systems.
The Army, acting as the Executive Agent for C-sUAS remains focused on the elimination of UAS threats. In a May 2021 Senate Armed Services Hearing, SECARMY, Christine Wormuth, said: “The Army needs to be very attentive to challenges like counter UAS for example.…those are absolutely areas that we need to be working on in terms of developing our capabilities and obviously being able to test our capabilities.”
Liteye’s C-sUAS solutions can be layered with multiple effectors and battle management systems to Detect, Track, Identify and Defeat, threats operating in the Air, on the Ground, on the Surface, and in the Electromagnetic Spectrum. These solutions can be configured for customized Mission Platforms; fixed/semi-fixed, light vehicle/man-portable, mobile, and unmanned/uncrewed robotic vehicles. The Liteye services team provides 24/7 reach-back support, training, and system updates to ensure that the systems remain effective against the threats that are continuously increasing in complexity.
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