L-R: Warwick Penrose – Managing Director at EPE, Robi Sen – Chief Technology Officer at Department 13, Sam Keayes – VP Transport and Security at Thales Australia
At the Land Forces Exhibition in Adelaide, EPE, Thales and Department 13 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) following successful integration of the MESMER Counter Drone solution into the Bushmaster. The MOU outlines the intent for this solution to provide an interim cyber capability for the vehicle platform.
Drones have become a persistent and pervasive threat to deployed members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), with insurgents using cheap commercial drones to survey defensive positions, assess the disposition of troops as well as deliver munitions and IED’s with disturbing ease and accuracy. Troops deploying from Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) need the ability to deny enemies the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) without impacting friendly radio frequencies (RF). This has prompted EPE, Department 13 and Thales to integrate the MESMER Counter UAS (C-UAS) capability into the Bushmaster as an innovative prototype being displayed at the Land Forces Conference in Adelaide.
The Thales Bushmaster is combat proven, offering high protection and mobility. It has been successfully deployed by three armies on operations in the Middle East, Africa and Pacific. On-going design enhancements, a wide range of user selectable mission equipment and mature through life support have ensured that Bushmaster continues to offer leading capability to meet emerging threats and evolving customer requirements. The Thales Integral Computing System (ICS) is an example of this, implementing a network-based architecture to centrally host all applications in the vehicle and enable the integration of new technologies to combat evolving threats.
Warwick Penrose, EPE Director said ‘The integration of the MESMER Counter Drone capability into the Bushmaster completed in 3 weeks demonstrates that EPE and Thales can successfully work together to meet tight deadlines. The success of this prototype further supports our short-term plans to establish an advanced manufacturing capacity in Australia to deliver sovereign capability.’
MESMER employs protocol manipulation techniques to manage a single or swarm of UAS. It detects and identifies drone signals using Radio Frequency (RF) protocol signatures. Protocol manipulation then enables MESMER to take advantage of weaknesses inherent in digital radio systems allowing safe mitigation of threats. This low power, surgical approach has several advantages over kinetic energy or jamming techniques, both of which can have collateral impacts on untargeted nearby assets and friendly RF systems. MESMER’s software defined architecture allows it to be constantly updated in response to evolutions in current UAS threats and emerging capabilities. This flexible software defined architecture also enables it to be seamlessly integrated into the Thales ICS.
Source: Press Release