Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced today it was awarded a contract to provide additional counter unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) platforms in support of U.S. Army’s Integrated Fires/Rapid Capabilities Office’s on-going Mobile-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (M-LIDS) program. In July 2018, the Army announced a $13 million award to Leonardo DRS to continue engineering and testing the M-LIDS and should be finished by July 2025. On October 7, 2022, DRS received approximately $40,000,000, and on November 11, 2022, the company was awarded approximately $20,000,000 through a modification contract. Under the existing indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, this new task order requires DRS to deliver additional kinetic defeat vehicles and spares.
The M-LIDS allows soldiers to detect, identify, track and defeat small UAS with electronic warfare and kinetic defeat systems. The M-LIDS system includes a mix of kinetic defeat effectors including the XM914 (30mm) cannon hosted by the Moog Inc.’s Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP®) turret. In March 2022, M-LIDS Increment 2 was identified as a U.S. Army ACAT III program of record, and the U.S. Army leadership directed accelerated deliveries of multiple C-UAS capabilities, including M-LIDS. The two-vehicle capability provides a balance of kinetic and non-kinetic defeat capabilities which have already completed extensive government testing. Several sets of M-LIDS Increment 2 are currently deployed overseas protecting U.S. and allied forces.
The M-LIDS family of systems uses a modular framework with a cutting-edge capability, overlaid on existing programs of record, to create a mechanism to defeat UAS from the smallest systems to Group 3 unmanned aircraft capable of carrying large explosives or sophisticated observation payloads. These aircraft typically weigh more than 55 pounds, but less than 1,320 pounds and operate below 18,000 feet at speeds of slower than 250 knots—like the Shadow and the Integrator. The M-LIDS design uses two military vehicles — one that detects and tracks UAV threats, and the other that shoots them down or jams their control signals. M-LIDS also uses a small UAV.
The DRS Land Systems business unit serves as the lead systems integrator for this mobile C-UAS capability. The DRS Land Systems business is part of the company’s Integrated Mission Systems segment which provides force protection products and services including counter-unmanned aerial systems, short-range air defense systems, and active protection systems, across multiple platforms. Headquartered in Arlington VA, Leonardo DRS, Inc. is an innovative and agile provider of advanced defense technology to U.S. national security customers and allies around the world. The company specialize in the design, development and manufacture of advanced sensing, network computing, force protection, and electric power and propulsion, and other leading mission-critical technologies.
