The US Army's LIDS: A sure shot against drones

Raytheon's KURFS radars and Coyote® effectors have teamed up to defeat evolving, proliferating unmanned aircraft systems threat. The KuRFS radar and Coyote® effector deliver essential detect and defeat capabilities in the defence against unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, also known as drones.

This why these proven Raytheon capabilities are crucial components of the US Army's integrated counter-UAS solution. It is known as LIDS: the Low, slow, small, unmanned aircraft Integrated Defeat System. In October 2022, Raytheon was awarded a contract to initially equip two Army divisions with its Ku-band Radio Frequency Sensor for 360-degree threat detection and Coyote® for low-cost, highly effective UAS defeat. Early in 2023, an additional quantity of fixed site and mobile LIDS systems was awarded to further support the Army's Central Command operations.

In LIDS, the Army integrates Raytheon's KuRFS and Coyote with Northrop Grumman's Forward Area Air Defence Command and Control system, or FAADC2 and the electronic warfare system made by Syracuse Research Corporation for the integrated LIDS counterUAS solution. LIDS is deployable as either mobile or fixed, relocatable platforms. The system can provide both stationary support for an installation, asset or site and a transportable configuration for deployment flexibility.

Layered defence

It takes "a system of systems approach to counter the growing threat from unmanned systems," said Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey at the Association of the US Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition in October 2022. Gainey, director of the Army's Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, stressed "there is not just one system that is going to solve this problem, from small quadcopters all the way up to almost cruise missile-type attack systems that you see out there." So, to defeat this range of Group 1-3 UAS, Gainey added, "it takes a layered approach to solve the problem."