The counter-drone system Kuwait is buying from the British firm MARSS will defend against seaborne drones along the coast as well as airborne ones, using sonar alongside radar and electro-optical sensors feeding a network of command centres, according to the company.
MARSS, an EOS company, will act as prime contractor and systems integrator on the £370 million contract, installing sensors across a network of sites that report into central command centres. Its NiDAR command and control platform fuses that data into threat assessments and provides what the company describes as hemispherical coverage against airborne and coastal seaborne drones. The contract also covers an initial supply of hard-kill interceptors and soft-kill jammers.
Johannes Pinl, chief executive of MARSS, said: “Countering drones and aerial threats is not about any single system. It is about an intelligent, layered architecture that detects, decides and defeats within seconds, and MARSS has built exactly that.
“Over the coming 24 months, MARSS will integrate the sensors and effectors that protect Kuwait’s people, critical infrastructure and national assets, backed by British engineering and new skilled jobs here in the UK.”
Doctor Andreas Schwer, chief executive of EOS, said: “Air defence is being redefined by the drone. Nations can no longer afford to answer low-cost threats with high-cost interceptors, and they need integrated systems that can respond faster than the threat. MARSS’ NiDAR is the intelligence layer in EOS’ counter-drone strategy, connecting sensors and effectors into a single, scalable architecture. Kuwait’s decision to deploy this capability nationwide shows where the market is heading, and it positions EOS as a leading provider of integrated counter-drone defence.”
Having both soft-kill and hard-kill effectors run through the same command system gives operators layered defeat options and a choice of response for each engagement, the company said, with NiDAR using AI to classify threats automatically and recommend an engagement, shortening the time between detection and defeat.
MARSS said the contract builds on NiDAR systems it has already fielded in the Gulf, which it said have been in operational use throughout the recent crisis in the region, and extends that approach to a national scale.
Delivery will be phased over 24 months and followed by a multi-year integrated logistic support programme. A training package running over several months will put MARSS personnel on the ground to train Kuwaiti operators across the sensors, the effectors and NiDAR itself, and a team will deploy to Kuwait for the duration, with recruitment already under way.
The commercial side of the deal was announced by the Ministry of Defence earlier, including the £370 million value, the roughly one hundred jobs expected across MARSS and its British supply chain, production proposed for Bristol, and the contract’s place within Taskforce Sabre, the government and industry effort to help Gulf states buy what they need quickly. Britain has already supplied Kuwait with the Rapid Sentry ground-based air defence missile system, and the Royal Air Force’s ORCUS counter-drone system is operating in the country.
NiDAR itself covers air, surface, sub-surface and land, detecting, tracking and classifying threats and recommending responses, and MARSS says it has more than sixty deployments worldwide. The company has been working on AI-enabled command and control for around twenty years, including research with the European Union, NATO and defence agencies.
EOS is an Australian group listed on the ASX with divisions covering defence and space. Its defence products include remote weapon stations, high energy laser weapons and drone interceptors, and NiDAR sits inside that portfolio as the command layer. MARSS is exhibiting NiDAR at SOFEX in Jordan from 27 to 29 October, where it will be shown integrated onto vehicle platforms alongside EOS remote weapon stations.
We could use this around our Naval and front line airbases.