BAE Systems has successfully completed integration and deployment testing of its Anti-Threat System (BATS), marking a significant milestone in the rapid development of its latest counter-drone capability.
BATS is a scalable counter-uncrewed threat system developed by BAE Systems’ Digital Intelligence business. It is designed to detect, track, identify and defeat hostile drones, providing layered protection for military forces, critical infrastructure and other high-value assets.
Since initial concept, the BATS solution has advanced to field-based integration and deployment testing in just eight months – an accelerated timeline that reflects the urgency of countering increasingly sophisticated uncrewed threats on the battlefield.
Louise Heywood, Head of Strategy at BAE Systems’ Digital Intelligence business, said: “The test demonstrated exactly what BATS is designed to achieve – rapid deployment, seamless integration and the capability for fast, effective response.
“Moving from concept to field-based testing in just eight months is a testament to our expertise and the agility of everyone involved. This milestone puts us in a strong position as we continue to develop the system at pace and advance to live-fire trials in August.”
Conducted with MSI-Defence Systems, the test integrated its firing technology to track threats at a secure testing site in Norfolk, successfully proving BATS’ modular, software-defined approach to countering uncrewed threats. During testing, the team also successfully demonstrated the ability to rapidly deploy, dismantle and re-establish BATS in a new location, proving it can keep pace with the demands of the modern battlefield.
The test validated data capture and analysis, to enable a quick and accurate response to uncrewed systems at the test site. It also demonstrated how the system is designed to adapt to changes as they happen on the battlefield, fusing intelligence with rapid decision-making to support operators in detecting, identifying and responding to drone threats with precision.
Hadyn White, Senior Military Advisor, MSI Defence Systems, said: “The demonstration successfully showed strong collaboration and illustrated how we can defeat a variety of drone threats by integrating agile technology and expertise from across the defence ecosystem.
“We now have a clear way forward to provide an effective defence against drone technologies which is crucial for modern warfare.”
Following the success of integration and deployment testing, the programme now moves into its next phase with live trials later this summer. These trials will incorporate both kinetic and non-kinetic countermeasures for the first time, marking a key step for demonstrating how BATS can address uncrewed threats with a variety of responses.
