AEROSPACE


“For airports looking to acquire a C-UAS system, knowing where to start is often the first and biggest challenge”


radar and optical sensors, all linked within an open-source command and control system to a range of mitigation measures: interceptor drones, missiles, electronic countermeasures and anti-aircraft guns. In Ukraine, this detect-track- mitigate chain in some places is now almost fully automated, but only a very small proportion of these technologies are suitable for UK civil airports. Anything which might interfere with the airport’s communications, radar and precision navigation


systems is out of the question. Mitigation methods are limited to friendly drones which can capture rogue drones in a net, cyber takeover systems where the security agency can hack the rogue drone and land it safely away from the airport, and tailored signal disruption which creates localised electronic barriers around runways. In the near future, more precise and customised kinetic weapon systems such as lasers or plastic rounds may have applications at airports, but it is early days. Where advances in C-UAS technology from the Ukrainian battlefield can have relevance is in improved detection and tracking, increasingly able to detect drones which do not emit RF signals. For example, BAE Systems is developing an AI-based acoustic


passive detection sensor technology within its BAE Systems Anti Threat System (BATS). According to Louise Heywood,


head of strategy at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, the system can screen out hobby drone noise signatures and only generate automated alerts when more potentially dangerous drone threats are identified. “We've chosen acoustic sensing as a last line of detection and at the same time developed a new line of cameras loaded with AI-based threat intelligence to look for drones from threat libraries,” she said.


While technological advances are


paving the way for safer airports, until they have both the authority and the means to act, the rogue drone challenge will remain only half solved.


SPONSORED


Ready to launch I


SS Aerospace’s ten-bay HAL10 launcher is designed to keep multiple uncrewed aircraft


protected, conditioned and ready for rapid deployment. British uncrewed systems specialist


ISS Aerospace has deployed its HAL10 launcher at a European airbase, taking the system beyond the prototype and test phase.


HAL10, short for Hybrid Aerial-


Systems Launcher, can store, condition and autonomously deploy up to 10 small uncrewed aircraft in rapid succession. Its internal environment keeps the aircraft at an operational temperature, reducing the preparation required before launch. The system can be installed permanently to protect an airbase or other critical site, or mounted on a vehicle to support deployed forces. Operators can launch aircraft


individually, stagger sorties to maintain coverage or deploy several in quick succession when a mission requires greater aerial mass.


Managing multiple missions At the heart of HAL10 is ISS Aerospace’s Stores Management System, which oversees the process from system readiness and effector selection through to conditioning,


Photo credit: ISS


queuing and deployment. It also provides continuous telemetry while the launcher is in use. This allows HAL10 to manage


aircraft carrying different payloads or assigned to different missions, helping the system select the most appropriate effector while reducing the number of actions required from the operator. Although platform agnostic, HAL10’s


natural partner is the ISSOS WASP. The tube-launched aircraft can transition into multirotor flight in less than three seconds and carry modular payloads for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, counter-UAS or strike missions.


Find out more about HAL10 at issaerospace.com


Autumn 2026 | Advance 23


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