HENSOLDT and Dronamics announce a joint unmanned airborne platform and ISTAR solution.

Sensor specialist and solutions provider HENSOLDT and Bulgarian UAV-OEM Dronamics will cooperate on a joint unmanned airborne platform and Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR-)solution. Dronamics today announces the launch of its defence platform powered by its flagship Black Swan long-range cargo UAV to address a critical national security gap - the ability for countries to continuously detect and target multi-domain threats from the air, ensuring European sovereignty over European skies.

For its first ever defence solution, Dronamics is partnering with HENSOLDT. This fully European Airborne Early Warning (AEW) system combines the unrivalled endurance, payload and range of Dronamics’ drone technology with HENSOLDT’s state-of-the-art mission sensor systems, making the Black Swan Europe’s most versatile Strategic Class III UAS.

The partnership between the two companies launches a 100% Made in Europe unmanned airborne platform equipped with HENSOLDT’s leading MissionGrid suite featuring MissMarvin mission management software, and PrecISR Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), to detect and target airborne, ground and maritime threats.

The resulting joint solution will address critical gap coverage in national airspace, strengthen European defence and civil protection capabilities and meet the growing security needs. Early demonstrations of the joint solution are planned for later this year, followed by operational deployment with a focus on strengthening Europe’s capabilities along its Eastern Flank, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic.

“The cooperation between HENSOLDT and Dronamics reflects our commitment to provide our customers future-oriented and capable integrated airborne solutions to close capability gaps and to enhance Europe´s safety and security, especially at our Eastern Flank”, said Dietmar Thelen, Member of HENSOLDT´s Group Executive Committee and Head of HENSOLDT´s Multi-Domain Solutions Division. “Thus, we are also setting a pioneering example for Software-Defined Defence!”

“Dronamics Detect & Defend is built on the solid foundation of our proven and tested drone technology. Its ability to integrate different functional payloads, combined with a market-leading endurance exceeding 24 hours, makes the Dronamics Black Swan a uniquely strategic platform to build on. We are thrilled to have as a launch partner a market leader like HENSOLDT, with the common aim to leverage the most advanced European aerospace technology to keep Europe safe and secure and to enable a prosperous future for all,” says Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO Dronamics.

The heavy lift and long endurance capability of the Dronamics Black Swan UAS technology allows for several configurations to integrate HENSOLDT’s superior ISTAR system, to meet defence and civil protection needs and keep Europe safe.

MissionGrid is a scalable mission system that takes full advantage of the rich feature set provided by the HENSOLDT radar and electro-optic sensor range. Combined with data fusion and MissMarvin mission management software, MissionGrid offers a capability increase that enables a single aircraft to deliver multiple missions. PrecISR is HENSOLDT’s new range of high-performance, compact AESA Airborne Multi-Mission Surveillance Radars.

It’s built on the latest generation AESA software-defined technology that can operate 24/7 in all weather conditions, ensuring safety and security while detecting conventional and asymmetric threats on the ground, at sea and in the air.