Echodyne provides radar for Air Force SUADS counter-drone architecture

KIRKLAND, Wash. - Echodyne in Kirkland, Wash., announced that its EchoShield radar has been selected as a primary radar system for Trust Automation's Small-Unmanned Air Defense System counter-uncrewed aircraft platforms being delivered to the U.S. Air Force under a $490 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract awarded in August 2025.

The contract covers the rapid research, development, prototyping, demonstration, evaluation, production, and transition of uncrewed and counter-uncrewed aircraft system technologies. Work will be performed at Trust Automation's facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., with performance expected to continue through August 2030.

The Small-Unmanned Air Defense System Rapidly Deployable, Fixed Site, and Expeditionary platforms comply with the Sensor Open Systems Architecture standard. Company officials said EchoShield is the first fully integrated SOSA-compliant radar solution within the platform architecture.

Related: BRINC and Echodyne team to enable automated BVLOS without observers for first responder UAVs

System background

The Rapidly Deployable Small-Unmanned Air Defense System is a self-contained, self-powered counter-UAS platform configured for transport aboard military aircraft using standard pallet dimensions. The Fixed Site Small-Unmanned Air Defense System is designed for permanent military installations and can operate independently or as part of a distributed base-defense network providing redundant 360-degree protection. The Expeditionary Small-Unmanned Air Defense System detection platform is sized for checked-baggage transport and deployment from larger SUV-class vehicles.

Trust Automation officials said the systems are designed to provide layered defense against Group 1, Group 2, and Group 2+ uncrewed aircraft threats through modular detection, tracking, and defeat technologies. The company's broader counter-UAS portfolio also includes the weapons-mountable GAT UAS Jammer designed to counter uncrewed aircraft operating in command-and-control and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) frequency bands.

EchoShield is a commercial off-the-shelf medium-range radar designed to generate precision tracking data for a broad range of drone types and configurations. The radar provides industry-standard interfaces and data outputs intended to improve optical sensor cueing, effector targeting, and operator reaction times.

The system incorporates recursive neural network machine learning models for target classification and tracking, designed to improve situational awareness and prioritization of uncrewed aircraft threats. Company officials said the radar's precision tracking data is intended to support kinetic effectors against highly maneuverable drone targets.

Ty Safreno, chief executive officer of Trust Automation Inc., said integrating Echodyne radar technology into the company's counter-UAS systems is intended to improve detection range and tracking accuracy, enabling earlier threat identification and operator response.