Huntsville Hosts Successful Demo of SAIC’s Counter Unmanned Aerial System

The 2022 Space & Missile Defense Symposium brought the best and brightest to Huntsville’s Von Braun Center last month, showcasing the latest Missile and Aerospace Technologies being developed in the United States. 

Businesses from the City of Huntsville were also present demonstrating the latest in military and civilian technology. Companies such as SAIC with their Counter Unmanned Aerial System (CUAS) were key highlights of a successful event.

Last week, a team of SAIC engineers from various locations across the nation returned to Huntsville for a series of demonstrations at SIC Technology’s headquarters.

The event, hosted on a bright and clear September day, began with an overview of the CUAS system. SAIC engineers label the Counter Unmanned Aerial System as a “drone security that is ready to integrate” itself into mainstream U.S. security systems. 

Both for defense and civilian use, the CUAS defense system capabilities stretch from military bases, commercial flights, border protection and detection, and even identification and threat mitigation. 

In an interview with the Huntsville Business Journal, SAIC engineers provided a brief overview of the four scenarios that followed: 

Scenario 1 (Loitering Drone): The CUAS system provides detection, tracking and identification for situational awareness. Detecting the UAS requires the use of radio frequency (RF) Sensors, Radars and electronic warfare (EW) sensors. To identify the UAS, the system uses visual camera sensors equipped with slew-to-cue technology.

Scenario 2 (Inbound Threat): The CUAS system provides detection, tracking, identification and mitigation. To detect the UAS, the system uses RF sensors, Radars and EW sensors. To identify the UAS, the system uses visual camera sensors equipped with slew-to-cue technology. The threat is mitigated using a Blue Force Interceptor provided by our partner, SCI. 

Scenario 3 (Multiple Threats): The CUAS system provides detection, tracking, identification and mitigation for multiple simultaneous threats.  To detect the UAS, the system uses RF sensors, Radars and EW sensors. To identify the UAS, the system relies visual camera sensors equipped with slew-to-cue technology. The threat as mitigated using EW sensors, which took control of the threat and returned it to point of origin.

Scenario 4 (Long Range Threat): The CUAS system can detect an inbound threat using RF Sensors, Radars and EW sensors. To identify the UAS, the system relies on visual camera sensors using slew-to-cue technology. To identify the UAS, the system uses visual camera sensors equipped with slew-to-cue technology. The threat as mitigated using EW sensors, which took control of the threat and landed it at a point near the command tent.

With each scenario finalized, and the demo seemingly successful, the attention was turned toward the people behind the project. In this case, according to Greg Fortier, Vice President, Aviation and Missile Defense of SAIC the CUAS budget and number of Huntsville-based employees fluctuated for this project. 

“Our Counter Unmanned Aerial System uses the best technology we can find to build the best systems and components needed to detect, track, identify and defeat a threat posed by any unmanned aerial system. Using an open-systems approach means that our scalable (can be built for a small area or big area) and tailorable (the type of systems desired to detect, track, identify and defeat UAS) system-of-systems can be incorporated into a larger network of systems to provide a defense in depth, layered counter to unmanned aerial system threats. This means the system can be mobile mounted on an off-road vehicle, into a large truck or vehicle, on a large storage container or box, or a fixed building site.”

Fortier also pointed out that the success of the demo, and the CUAS system as a whole, will benefit North Alabama in many ways. 

“SAIC has been based in Huntsville for decades. Beyond the physical involvement of our SAIC employees — working alongside our Huntsville-based partners such as SCI Technology – is that we can build, test, and manage the program near an area approved by the FAA for testing, like we did today,” Fortier stated.

“Additionally, U.S. Army commands based at Redstone Arsenal are invested in emergent technology and solutions that support and defend Soldiers in the field. Our support of those commands over the past several decades and through our current contracts, allow us to understand what solutions are needed now and how we can work to make the system easily operable for any user.”

For more information, please visit www.saic.com/cuas

Images provided by SAIC.