Blighter Surveillance Systems, a radar technology business at the heart of the Cambridge UK cluster, has earned a slice of an $18 million contract clinched by Liteye Systems of Colchester with the United States Department of Defense.

Blighter is supplying its counter-UAV radar technology (Blighter A400 series air security/drone detection radars) to Liteye Systems as part of the contract.

Liteye is contracted to deliver numerous containerised anti-unmanned aircraft systems (known as C-AUDS) to the Department of Defense by the end of the fourth quarter of 2018.

Kenneth Geyer, CEO of Liteye Systems, said: “The Blighter A400 series radars are a key part of our C-UAS solution which is becoming the go-to defence system in combat.

“We are thrilled to have secured our fifth contract for C-UAS systems since we first supplied the US version of the AUDS system to the United States Army in 2016.”

Liteye is to deliver what it describes as “numerous containerised anti-unmanned aircraft systems’ which are destined for the US Air Force.

With many systems already in the field providing real world experience, against very real threats, Liteye is developing more advanced capabilities that can be layered into their solutions.

These advancements will be needed to combat the growing threat today, and for years to come, from the fast growing unmanned or robotic systems market.

Geyer added: “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. Our goal is to stay ahead of that threat.”