The US Air Force (USAF) has awarded a follow-on contract to Liteye Systems for the delivery of containerised counter unmanned aircraft system (UAS) defence systems (AUDS).
Valued at $18m, the new follow-on award is the fifth contract received by the company for the supply of the containerised AUDS (C-AUDS) since the final quarter of 2016.
Deliveries of all the new C-UAS systems will be carried out over a period of nearly six months.
Liteye Systems chief executive officer Kenneth Geyer said: “The unmanned systems industry is innovating at an incredible rate.
“Unfortunately with all the great benefits that provides it also spawns the rogue operator who uses that tech in a malicious way. At Liteye, our goal is to stay ahead of that threat.”
Liteye’s close partner companies Pratt & Miller, Numerica and Chess Dynamics form the primary team involved in the production of the new C-AUDS variant in Centennial, Colorado, US.
The new containerised system is fitted with the latest advanced operator suite, hardened for use in any climate, and can be easily transported across locations.
Currently, the company is deploying and supporting the AUDS, mobile AUDS (M-AUDS), M-AUDS-KE and C-AUDS variants of the C-UAS system.
All four variants are capable of detecting, tracking, locating and defeating enemy UAS systems with layers of different technologies that are used together to offer enhanced defence capabilities.
In late 2016, the US version of the AUDS system was first deployed with the US Army.
