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Texas-based defence technology start-up Allen Control Systems (ACS) has announced a new Bullfrog robotic gun to counter the threat of Chinese drone manufacturing dominance.
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The developer of counter-drone robotic gun systems has reportedly raised US$12 million in seed capital funding led by San Francisco’s Craft Ventures with participation from New York’s Forum Ventures and California’s Rally Ventures.
The company’s Bullfrog autonomous M240 gun turret system (using 7.62mm ammunition) is reportedly able to detect, identify and neutralise enemy unmanned aerial vehicles using kinetic impact via machinegun rounds in defensive moving and static locations.
The system operates on 24V DC power for easier integration into common NATO vehicles and can operate in autonomous and semi-autonomous modes with a fully passive detection system.
Bullfrog can also reportedly handle accurate detection based on millions of training images, as well as possible networking into existing air-defense and force-protection operating systems.
“We are at a military disadvantage with our biggest rival. ACS was created to neutralise the threat of Chinese drone manufacturing dominance,” said chief executive officer Steven Simoni.
“DJI, the Shenzhen-based manufacturer, commands over 70 per cent of the world’s drone market and makes a new drone every few seconds. With respect to drones, any serious dual-use mandate from our government is about 20 years too late.”
Lethal, low-cost and increasingly autonomous drones are being deployed in large numbers internationally, and there is significant demand for a counter-drone system like Bullfrog to be produced that can predict a shot will be on target before firing or recognise when it’s infeasible to track a particular target manoeuvre, according to Simoni.
Radio jamming can stop many off-the-shelf commercial drones, but autonomous military drones are designed to continue their missions even when their radios are jammed, according to founder and chief technology officer Luke Allen. ACS is developing technology capable of neutralising large numbers of lethal drones at a much lower cost, he said.
“ACS’s products are designed with an assumption that military drones will be numerous and will be hardened against radio jamming and other long-range non-kinetic attempts at stopping them,” said Allen.
“But drones can’t carry sufficient armour to stop a bullet. The downside of bullets is that aiming a gun with sufficient precision to hit a small drone is almost impossible. We understand how hard that problem is, and we believe we’re well-positioned to solve it.”
