Two days, one drone killer: How defense companies built a wheeled counter-UAS robot at the Army’s Operation Jailbreak | DefenseScoop
AI Analysis
During the Army’s ‘Operation Jailbreak’ at Fort Carson, six defense companies rapidly prototyped a mobile counter-UAS system integrating existing technologies. The resulting ‘hunter-killer’ robot team combines mobility, radar, autonomous navigation, and a kinetic kill system (the Bullfrog turret) managed through Anduril’s Lattice battle management platform. This demonstrates a fast-track approach to fielding C-UAS capabilities by leveraging rapid integration and interoperability.
Key Takeaways
- AZAK and Allen Control Systems (ACS) provided the robotic platform and ‘Bullfrog’ kinetic kill system.
- Havoc supplied the autonomous driving software.
- Leonardo DRS integrated the radar system.
- Picogrid facilitated system integration, and Anduril’s Lattice provided the battle management interface.
- The system is designed to autonomously patrol and engage UAS swarms, protecting troops from drone attacks, inspired by observed tactics in Ukraine.
Why It Matters
This rapid prototyping and integration demonstrates a shift towards agile defense acquisition, addressing the urgent need for effective C-UAS solutions. The success of ‘Operation Jailbreak’ suggests a viable model for quickly fielding capabilities by combining existing technologies and fostering collaboration between defense contractors. This approach is particularly relevant given the increasing proliferation of low-cost drones on the modern battlefield.
Two days, one drone killer: How defense companies built a wheeled counter-UAS robot at the Army’s Operation Jailbreak | DefenseScoop
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Out near the Rocky Mountains, Ben Meager found a good spot to park his robot vehicle. It was the best place to park in a lot packed with some of the defense industry’s newest tech, but it also happened to sit next to a counter-drone turret he’d been eyeing for more than a year.
Meager had made renderings of the turret, an autonomous machine gun drone killer made by Allen Control Systems known as “the Bullfrog.” He thought it could fit on top of his company’s small, ruggedized ground robot to help blow swarms of unmanned aerial systems out of the sky.
“I won’t lie,” Meager, the CEO of AZAK, told DefenseScoop in a recent interview. “I parked the vehicle next to the ACS Bullfrog in hopes of an actual incorporation of that product onto ours, and that is exactly what happened.”
Within about two days, according to two CEOs involved in the effort, six defense companies ended up building a pair of wheeled drone killers that soon began zipping around the lot. AZAK and ACS provided the mobility and firepower, Havoc plugged the autonomous driving software, Leonardo DRS installed the radar, Picogrid tied the systems together, and it all ran through Anduril’s battle management platform known as Lattice.
The result: a “hunter-killer” team of ground robots meant to autonomously roam contested and denied battlefields to shoot down UAS swarms looking to target U.S. troops, the CEOs said. One senses the target and the other shoots it down, moving in tandem.
“You see what’s happening in Ukraine and these drones are now directly targeting individual soldiers,” said Paul Lwin, CEO and co-founder of Havoc. He said the new ground robots could maneuver away from human-staffed formations, creating perimeters to target UAS swarms before they get to units without troops having to dig into stationary trenches. “I think this is how we overcome the proliferation of these easy and cheap drones.”
Those companies were among more than 50 to descend on Fort Carson, Colorado, last month for an Army initiative called Operation Jailbreak. The overall purpose of the effort was meant to get the service’s disparate military systems to talk to each other. The defense vendors built the ground robots during Jailbreak’s first “sprint,” which ended earlier this month.
After years of expensive efforts to connect its platforms, the Army has been campaigning for a way to get old and new capabilities to exchange data. Officials have said modern conflict around the world has shown that fast, accessible distribution of information across a unified suite of sensors, weapons and units will define success on the battlefield, and the service wasn’t moving fast enough.
So the Army launched Jailbreak, which mimics Ukrainian efforts to build a robust battlefield awareness network to help repel Russian onslaughts. The Iran war als