A new counter-drone system by German sensor maker Hensoldt has been successfully demonstrated at an airfield in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, Germany. The counter-drone system (for protecting airports and infrastructure) is the Xpeller counter-UAV system, which combines radar, RF and optical sensors and a targeted jammer.

Hensoldt's Xpeller counter-drone system combines radar and sensors to detect and disrupt unmanned aerial vehicles. (Photo: Hensoldt)

Hensoldt said the system's individual elements were positioned at the airfield to ensure optimum surveillance of the entire area by integrating Xpeller into the airfield's infrastructure and proving its compatibility with all the other local systems. Xpeller managed to reliably detect UAVs starting from different locations, the company said in a press release.

The Xpeller, part of a modular family of products, includes various sensors such as radar, camera and radio frequency detectors and direction finders and jammers. It uses sensors to detect and identify a drone as far as several miles away. A jammer -- using real-time signal analysis -- then interrupts the link between drone and its pilot, or interferes with the drone's navigation system. The company comprises the security and defense electronics activities of the Airbus Group, which were spun off from the group in 2017.