As drones increase in availability, more organizations and governments are looking for ways to protect assets from nefarious drones. Fortem has developed a system called DroneHunter that, well, hunts drones. Literally. DroneHunter involves detecting and then removing drones by shooting them down or capturing them with another drone. This is dogfighting with drones.
The system uses radar to monitor a designated area and identify potential bad actors. Once a target is identified, a large six rotor drone is deployed that can be equipped with several different takedown devices. This drone then intercepts the rogue drone and shoots a net at the target drone to either cause the drone to crash or tether it to the larger drone. Fortem says this system works with drones traveling up to 100 miles per hour.
As we explained last year, Fortem acquired its core radar technology in 2016 from IMSAR, and over the last year has adapted it so that the system can be exported around the world, leased or purchased outright within the typical security budget for a variety of venues, and can work with any security-grade drones.
The Utah-based startup raised $5.5 million last year to bring this product to market.
This system is now available for purchase at an unnamed cost from Fortem though it seems sales will be limited to defense and federal government customers.