NATO seeks C-UAS industry solutions to protecting critical infrastructure

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) seeks information regarding the availability, pricing, and delivery timeline of C-UAS equipment. The market survey is being issued to identify potential solutions, to calibrate requirements, and identify possible suppliers.

Responses are due back to NCI Agency no later than 23:59 hours Central European Time (CET) on 15 May 2024. Clarification requests can be submitted no later than 10 calendar days prior the MS closing date.

According to details of the tender:

“The purpose of the C-UAS equipment is to protect critical infrastructure installations such as ammunition depots. These installations are located in urban as well in rural environments. The project shall deliver military C-UAS capability able to detect, identify and neutralize enemies UAS (drones), flying over restricted military infrastructures.

The Figure 1 shows a hypothetical area that needs to be defended: A circular No-Go zone centred around a point on the area to be protected such that the entire area to be protected falls within the No-Go Zone. Around the centre point, there is another circular area with a larger radius (diameter) where incoming UASs should be neutralized. The zone where UASs must be detected is defined as the largest concentric circular area in Figure 1.

“From an operational perspective, the requirement is to detect and deny any commercial UAS, in a zone with minimum 7 km radius. At the technical level, the detection and deny ranges will of course dependent on the target size and environmental conditions.”

The smart mitigation shall include jamming capabilities for both UAS communication channels and GNSS channels. The capability shall have the possibility to distinguish between Friend or Foe UAS, based on Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) technologies such as remote drone ID (e.g. compliant with ASTM F3411, ASTM F3548 and ASD-STAN prEN 4709-002 P1). NATO UNCLASSIFIED RELEASABLE TO MOLDOVA Annex B to NCIA/ACQ/2024/06737 NATO UNCLASSIFIED RELEASABLE TO MOLDOVA Page B-2

The project is looking for a field proven solution.

The initial requirement is for six (6) integrated C-UAS systems composed of (at the minimum):

• radar detection capability,
• electro optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera(s),
• jammer capability, and
• a Command and Control (C2) system (i.e. an operator work post).

The number of components (e.g. radars, cameras and jammers) has to be dimensioned in accordance with the generic scenario presented above. For example, multiple radars may need to be deployed in the No-Go Zone to ensure the full coverage of the detection and identification zone. All components shall be deployed inside of the No-Go zone. Additional components (e.g. passive detection systems) can be proposed and will be considered within the overall balance between price and capability. The main threat is represented by commercial Class 1 UASs.