The fight against drones is developing at lightning speed. Where a few years ago mainly jamming or simple air defence was used, integrated systems that combine detection, tracking and interception are now appearing more and more often. A new partnership between the Dutch company Robin Radar Systems and the Latvian defence technology company Origin Robotics shows what such a combined approach looks like in practice.
The two companies are linking their technologies: the Dutch IRIS radar system detects and tracks drones, after which Origin Robotics’ Blaze interceptor drone can attack the target. (similar to Ukraine’s Sting drone) The result is a system in which radar and interceptor communicate directly with each other.
A radar that tracks drones continuously
The basis of the partnership is IRIS, a compact 3D radar developed specifically for detecting drones. The system continuously scans the airspace around a position and detects small objects that are often hard for traditional radars to see.
IRIS works with 360-degree coverage and generates position updates on a target several times a second. As soon as a drone is detected, the system continuously calculates its location, altitude and direction of flight.
That data is automatically passed on to other systems in the network.
For anti-drone applications, the speed of that data is crucial. Small drones often change course quickly and fly low or between obstacles. A sensor that only gives an occasional position update may then react too late.
That is why Robin Radar’s radar sends new coordinates to the interceptor every second.
Blaze: a drone that brings down drones
The effector in the system comes from Origin Robotics. Its Blaze drone was developed as an autonomous interceptor for aerial threats such as reconnaissance or attack drones.
As soon as IRIS detects and tracks a target, Blaze can be launched towards the calculated position of the threat.
During flight, the interceptor drone stays in contact with its ground station. New coordinates from the radar are sent continuously so the drone’s route can be adjusted.
When Blaze gets close enough to the target, it switches to its own camera. The operator can then visually confirm what the target is and decide whether the drone should follow it, intercept it or abort the mission.
That combination of radar-guided navigation and visual confirmation is meant to prevent the wrong targets from being attacked.
Photo: Robin Radar
Two building blocks of an anti-drone system
Modern air defence against drones is often described in terms of three core components: sensors, command and control, and effectors.
Sensors detect and track targets.
Command systems process that information and decide what needs to happen.
Effectors ultimately take out the target.
The partnership between Robin Radar and Origin Robotics focuses on two of those three components.
The radar provides detection and tracking.
The interceptor drone provides the kinetic response.
The command system — the software layer that connects everything — can come from different suppliers. That is a deliberate design choice.
Designed for open integration
An important design principle of IRIS is that the system can easily be integrated into existing command networks.
The radar delivers its data through standardised digital interfaces, including APIs. This means the tracking data can be fed directly into command systems, sensor fusion platforms or weapon systems.
Sensor fusion means that information from several sensors — for example radar, cameras and electronic detection — is combined into one common air picture.
Thanks to open integration, operators can link different effectors to the same radar. In this case that is Blaze, but in other situations it could be anti-aircraft guns, electronic jamming systems or other interceptor drones.
Experience from Ukraine
The development of IRIS has been influenced in recent years partly by operational use in Ukraine.
There, radar systems are used to detect different types of drones early, from small quadcopters to larger fixed-wing aircraft.
A recent software update to the system introduced a so-called Long Range Mode. This mode increases the detection range for larger fixed-wing drones and can be activated through software without changing the hardware.
Operators can switch between different detection profiles depending on the type of threat.
A new reality of aerial threats
The rapid development of drone warfare has led to anti-drone systems being built in an increasingly modular way.
A radar detects the threat.
Software determines the priority.
An interceptor or other weapon is used to take out the target.
In architectures like this, sensors and effectors often come from different companies.
Partnerships such as the one between Robin Radar Systems and Origin Robotics fit that model: specialised companies each supply a part of a larger system that ultimately works together on the battlefield.
