Mitsubishi’s First Anti-UAV System

A new countermeasure tool to ward off illegal UAVs was unveiled by Mitsubishi Electric at the LIMA 2017 exhibition being held in Langkawi, Malaysia. Labelled the Drone Deterrence System, it began to be developed in 2014 and made its first sale in Japan in 2016, said a company representative.

In fact, the first example will be delivered to the government customer this week. However, Mitsubishi Electric would not reveal who that client was.

Japan has experienced several incidents that would make an anti-UAV system desirable. For example, staff discovered a quadrotor atop the roof of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office in Tokyo on 22 April 2015. This UAV had a minute amount of cesium on it, raising the spectre of such aircraft being used for terrorist purposes.

The Mitsubishi Electric spokesman said at LIMA 2017, ‘We are now looking at the international market and this is the first time the system has been exhibited at an international defence show.’

He added, ‘There have been several inquiries by the Malaysian government and other ASEAN countries.’

The system has a ‘one-touch instant jamming mode’ and it is lightweight enough to be moved by one person. The antenna unit and tracking unit weighs 24kg, excluding the tripod/prong and other accessories.

Its detection and jamming range is approximately 1km, but that might change depending on the operational circumstances. The control unit can be incorporated into a simple laptop computer.

The detection and jamming radio frequency detection specifications cited by the company are 920MHz, 2.4GHz and 5.7GHz.

Pricing was not revealed, but the company representative said the system was affordable compared to other competing systems.

Source: Shephard Media