Army picks Raytheon for counter-UAV drones

July 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army plans to use Raytheon's Coyote unmanned aircraft and the KRFS radar against enemy drones on the battlefield, the company said this week.

The Coyote is designed to be guided by the KRFS radar to explode next to enemy drones, effectively acting as a guided missile.

The Coyote is a lightweight expendable UAV and is tube-launched, eliminating the need for a runway.

It can be launched from ground, air or naval units and can be networked to operate in swarm attacksto be used for surveillance in addition to strike attacks.

"Enemy unmanned aircraft are among the biggest threats facing our ground troops today," Thomas Bussing, vice president of Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems, said in a press release.

"Our small, expendable Coyote provides the Army with an affordable and highly effective solution for countering the growing UAS threat," Bussing said.

The Coyote is also used for hurricane tracking by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency responsible in the United States for severe weather monitoring.

The KRFS radar is in use for tracking rocket and artillery fire for counter battery operations, as well as UAVs.

"The warfighter needs a complete mission solution to successfully counter UAS threats," said Dave Gulla, vice president of Raytheon Mission Systems and Sensors. "Our quickly transportable system that tracks low-swarming threats with KRFS and eliminates those threats with Coyote, is a game changer for the U.S. Army."