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. In 2023, an additional quantity of fixed site and mobile LIDS systems was awarded to further support the Army’s Central Command operations. A third contract followed, intended to equip a third Army division.
In LIDS, the Army integrates Raytheon’s KuRFS and Coyote with Northrop Grumman’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control system, or FAADC2, and the electronic warfare system made by Syracuse Research Corporation for the integrated LIDS counter-UAS 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 defense
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 U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in October 2022.
Gainey, then director of the Army’s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, stressed “there’s not just one system that’s 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 … it’s a solvable problem.”
“There are other kinds of counter-UAS configurations, but LIDS is the most robust in everything from detect, track, identify and defeat,” said Bill Darnè, Raytheon’s Requirements and Capabilities director for counter-UAS capabilities. “That’s the advantage Coyote and KuRFS bring to the LIDS configuration,” he added. “It’s been rigorously tested, deployed in theater and getting the job done.”