The Ministry of Defence’s programme to develop new electronic countermeasures protecting service personnel from radio-controlled threats has passed a key design milestone, with prototype systems due for testing in early 2027, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Asked by the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, Ben Obese-Jecty, what progress had been made on delivering Project Crenic, the Minister of State for Defence, Luke Pollard, said the programme had passed its Critical Design Review in summer 2025, and that the first prototype systems were expected in the first quarter of 2027 for testing.
Work was ongoing, Pollard said, “to optimise the capability to protect Service Personnel from emerging radio-controlled threats, while ensuring the procurement and delivery model supports continuous through-life development and upgrades in response to an increasingly complex threat landscape”. The emphasis on continuous upgrades reflects the central challenge the project was set up to address, namely keeping pace with threats that evolve far faster than conventional equipment programmes can respond to.
Project Crenic dates to a five-year, £45 million systems integration contract awarded in 2022 by Defence Equipment and Support to a group of UK businesses known as Team Protect. Its purpose is to develop force-protection electronic countermeasures, software-defined systems designed to detect and jam the radio signals used to trigger improvised explosive devices, protecting soldiers, vehicles and military bases on operations around the world.
The programme is led by PA Consulting, with Leonardo UK, Leidos UK and Marshall Land Systems among the partners. According to Leonardo, the work is focused on the complexity of threats, how rapidly they emerge and how they appear in the electromagnetic spectrum, with the team tasked with responding to changing threats far more quickly than traditional equipment programmes allow.
That includes threats arising from the newest communications technologies, such as 4G, 5G and the Internet of Things, which between them occupy a far wider portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The system is designed to be upgraded continuously through its life rather than fielded once and left, an approach suited to the electromagnetic environment, where adversaries can change the frequencies and methods they use to detonate devices or control drones at short notice.
Is this ECM as most would remember from N.I? or is more related to Drones?.
Joker.
I rebuilt most of those for extended frequencies.
It covers drones and IED’s
“Project Crenic is a £45 million UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) program developing software-defined electronic countermeasures (ECM) to protect soldiers, vehicles, and military bases from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The system intercepts and jams radio signals used by adversaries to detonate remote-controlled explosives.Key Capabilities & Technology:Versatile Radio Observation & Direction (VROD): Backpack-sized or vehicle-mounted kits detect and understand hostile electromagnetic signals.Search and Attack (VMAX): The systems provide electronic attack effects to counter threats, rivaling the sophistication of electronic warfare systems on aircraft.Advanced Spectrum Coverage: It is specifically built to counter fast-evolving communication technologies, including 4G, 5G, and the Internet of Things (IoT).Multi-Domain Integration: Using the Defence CEMA (Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities) Architecture, the system ensures gathered data can be shared and used across multiple operational domains, ensuring smooth communication while jammers are active.Led by PA Consulting and a consortium of industry partners (Team Protect), the initiative leans on agile acquisition to rapidly adapt to emerging threats in real-time. It is designed to replace older legacy systems and support collaboration with NATO and allied partners. Early systems and prototypes of this technology are being rolled out and tested in active operations”
Any good against Bullets 🤔
In the NATO recent training, NAto troops were tourn apart by ukrainain drone operators, so much so that senior officers confirmed it. NATO and more importantly the UK really needs to up it’s game in respect of drone warfare. Traditional tactics just don’t work and learning from Ukraine is essential.
Make sure they aren’t golf ball finders this time.