Allen Control Systems (ACS) has developed an AI system to detect and shoot down UAVs, writes Nick Flaherty.

The Bullfrog is an autonomous, AI-enabled, counter-UAV system that integrates with a standard M240 machine gun. It has a detection error of under 2%.

The system is trained on images of UAVs and can provide an indication of whether a shot will be on target before it is fired, or whether it is not feasible to track the UAV in the air.

Demonstrations in the US show the system can execute the full detect, track, identify and defeat chain autonomously. This is increasingly important as UAVs are becoming immune to jamming, shielded from directed energy defences and deployed in swarms.

The combination of advanced software and machine vision paired with commodity hardware brings the cost of disabling a UAV down to around $10, compared with the economically unsustainable solution of using million-dollar missiles to defend against $1000 drones.

“Our counter-UAV robotic gun system achieves what has been a near-impossibility until now – the ability to autonomously shoot UAVs out of the sky with a solution that doesn’t cost millions of dollars to procure or arm. There is now a solution to address the urgent threat of low-flying, cheap drones that have changed the battlefield,” said Steven Simoni, co-founder and CEO of ACS.