DSEI - Selex ES' Falcon Shield C-UAV system breaks cover

Finmeccanica's Selex ES launched its new Falcon Shield C-UAV system at DSEI on Tuesday 15 September. A scalable, modular and integrated solution, the development of which has been entirely private venture funded according to Selex, Falcon Shield is designed to deal with the threat being posed against critical infrastructure by small UAS. Using radar, electronic surveillance and EO/IR sensors such as the Nerio family of cameras, to find, fix, track and identify the threat, Selex ES' C-UAV system is " a class leading capability" that when entering the subsequent defeat mechanism "minimizes the threat of collateral damage" according to Selex ES' EW capability manager Steve Williams. While not going into detail about the system's defeat capabilities, Williams said that it is this phase which makes Falcon Shield class leading with him hinting that the system does more than jamming. A brochure provided by the company indicates that the system's C2 suite enables a certain level of sensor fusion with Falcon Shield being able to "accurately geo-locate the UAV and its GCS". Addressing questions about the system's level of maturity, Williams said the company has done its own testing. Not just a static system, Falcon Shield can also be vehicle mounted in order for it to be used for convoy protection while having the ability to be integrated with C-RAM capability too according to Williams. Having day and night capability, the elements that make up the system have "a dual use" Williams said with his colleague Chris Bushell, senior vice president for EW, telling that Selex ES "is responding to requests for a system right now".
Pieter Bastiaans