Allen Control Systems (ACS), a defense technology leader that has developed the only autonomous counter-drone robotic gun system with unparalleled precision, successfully completed numerous demonstrations of its Bullfrog™ system, including several successful multi-drone engagements at distance during the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Technology Readiness Experimentation 2024 (TREX 24-2). The event, which took place at Camp Atterbury, Indiana from August 19-26, is the premier platform for showcasing and accelerating the deployment of critical defense technologies. TREX 24-2 highlighted that Bullfrog stands alone in the DoD as the only counter-drone solution capable of executing the full detect, track, identify, and defeat kill chain autonomously. As the sole autonomous kinetic defeat solution selected to participate at TREX, ACS’s Bullfrog system delivered on its promise to demonstrate that a low-cost, low Size Weight and Power (SWaP), autonomous system can accurately and reliably target and destroy drones within seconds. The system integrates ACS’s cutting-edge software, computer vision, and artificial intelligence (AI) with the Service common M240 machine gun, proving its capability to change the dynamics of modern warfare by addressing the increasing threat posed by low-cost, resilient drones.
“Our resounding success at TREX validates that our counter-drone robotic gun system achieves, what has been a near-impossibility until now, the ability to autonomously shoot drones out of the sky with a solution that doesn’t cost the DoD millions of dollars to procure or arm. This means that there is now a solution to address the urgent threat of low-flying, cheap drones that have changed the battlefield. We are grateful to the Defense Department for providing the opportunity to showcase our system. The Bullfrog system’s successful performance during the TREX event marks a significant milestone on the path toward deployment, supporting our mission to accelerate the defense industry’s transition to advanced, cost-effective technologies that protect U.S. military and allies on the battlefield.,” said Steven Simoni, co-founder and CEO of ACS.
The ACS team was honored to host and demonstrate Bullfrog’s advanced capability for over 30 VIPs – members of Congress, senior DoD stakeholders, and key counter-drone program offices. These included: Congressman Greg Pence; Honorable Heidi Shyu, Undersecretary of Defense for Research & Engineering; US Special Operations Command; US Marine Corps; US Army Special Operations Command; DoD’s Joint Counter-small UAS Office; Army Futures Command; and the Defense Innovation Board. Over the two weeks of TREX, Bullfrog™ consistently demonstrated kinetic defeat of drones day after day, including multi-drone engagements in rapid succession – generating significant government stakeholder interest to immediately partner with ACS. This is a clear indication of an accelerated demand trajectory across DoD that is materializing now. Modern warfare has become drone warfare: the U.S. and our allies are vulnerable to a new class of cheap, deadly weapons for which there is currently no dependable and cost-effective defense. Today’s drones are increasingly immune from jamming, shielded from directed energy defenses, and more lethal than ever, often being deployed in swarms. A kinetic solution that physically destroys a drone is the only reliable defense in the long term; but the small size, high speed, and maneuverability of drones makes them extraordinarily difficult for humans to shoot down manually, even with AI assistance.
Using the unique combination of advanced software and machine vision capabilities paired with commodity hardware, the Bullfrog is expected to be more accurate than anything else ever developed, at a cost magnitudes cheaper than what it costs to produce drones. Most notably, the Bullfrog’s cost-per-kill of a drone is expected to be around $10, compared to the economically unsustainable status quo of using million-dollar missiles to defend against $1000 drones. Allen Control Systems (ACS) is a defense technology company building counter-drone robotic gun systems for a new era of drone warfare and to completely change battlefield economics. Our mission is to create autonomous precision weapon systems to safeguard our military and allies, ensuring dominance on every battlefield. ACS was founded by Steven Simoni, Luke Allen, and Mike Wior. Simoni and Allen are former U.S. Navy nuclear engineers who met in the service. Both were instrumentation and control systems engineers for Navy nuclear reactors. Their backgrounds span robotics, computer vision, machine learning, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science. ACS is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in Alexandria, Va.
