The Polish Armed Forces, including the Special Operations Forces command, continue to show interest in the Israeli developed Drone Dome system that protects against unmanned aerial vehicles. The representatives of the Polish SOF participated in the initial presentation of the system’s capabilities, which was held in Israel, in December 2019. Another such event is scheduled to take place in Poland in coming months.
The Polish Armed Forces, including the SOF command, continue to show interest in the Israeli developed Drone Dome system that protects against UAVs / Images by: Rafael
“We presented the system in a professional event held in Warsaw in March 2019. It was attended by representatives of a number of Polish security and defense organizations, such as the general staff of the Polish Armed Forces, the state security service, the Polish Border Guard, the Polish Intelligence Agency, the SOF command, the Territorial Defense Forces’ command, air operations center and Polish air navigation services agency. Ever since the event we’ve been in constant discussions with the Polish SOF.” said Col. (Ret.) Meir B., Business Development Director at Rafael’s air& missile defense division.
In December 2019 representatives of the Polish SOF travelled to Israel for a presentation and a live demo, which was held at Rafael’s test facility in Shdema, Southern Israel. The event was also attended by officials from the Polish Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Polish Embassy in Israel and the Polish Armaments Group (Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, PGZ).
“Recently we have received a request to come to Poland as soon as the coronavirus pandemic is controlled, and to perform a local demonstration of Drone Dome system’s capabilities.” added Col. (Ret.) Meir B.
According to him a number of other institutions in Poland show interest in the Drone Dome system, some of them civilian companies from the local energy sector.
Drone Dome capabilities
Drone Dome, is a radar and laser-beam system for detecting and destroying potentially hostile UAVs. Once the system’s radar identifies targets, its laser system destroys them.
Drone Dome also features a jamming system for disrupting communications between the UAV and its operator. Drone Dome’s range reaches several kilometers, but causes minimal interruptions to other systems in nearby urban areas.
Image by / Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
According to Col. (Ret.) Meir B., the standard Drone Dome system comprises a RADA RPS-42 S-band multi-mission hemispheric radar, a Controp MEOS electro-optical (EO)/infrared surveillance suite, a communications package and the C-Guard RD jamming and NetSense Wideband detection sensor systems developed by Netline. The UAV threat is neutralized by activation of directional GPS/GNSS and radio-frequency inhibitor/jammer devices.
The RPS-42 is a four-panel tactical air surveillance system delivering 360-degree coverage in azimuth and 90-degrees in elevation, with a detection range of 30 kilometers — including the detection of a minimum target size of 0.002 meters square at a range of 3.2 kilometers — at altitudes from 30 to 30,000 feet. The RPS-42 is designed to detect, track and classify all classes of UAV.
Rafael’s official told MILMAG Defense&Space that a special algorithm allows the different subsystems of the Drone Dome to “talk” flawlessly, so that the adaptation to the specific need of the customer is easy. “Our system is deployed in many places around the world and the users feedback enables us to upgrade the systems”
According to Col. (Ret.) Meir B. an RF sensor can be added to the Drone Dome so that a SIGINT application could detect the precise location of the enemy UAV and also of its operator. “The laser beam can hit the target for 7-8 seconds to make sure that all its components, especially if the UAV is armed, have been destroyed.”
By Arie Egozi, a correspondent of MILMAG Defense&Space in Israel.