KONGSBERG adds U.S. radar to its top-selling gun system

Norwegian defense company KONGSBERG has selected a radar built by U.S. firm Echodyne to help its remote weapon systems detect and shoot down drones, the companies announced September 9.

KONGSBERG has integrated Echodyne’s MESA radar into its PROTECTOR RS4 and RS6 remote weapon stations, turning the widely used gun mounts into counter-drone systems capable of tracking and engaging small unmanned aircraft. The PROTECTOR family is the most widely fielded remote weapon station in the world, with more than 25,000 units delivered to over 31 countries and more than 8 million hours of combat use, including in Ukraine. The stations let troops fire machine guns, grenade launchers or larger weapons from inside a vehicle, using cameras and sensors instead of exposing a gunner.

Echodyne’s MESA radar is a solid-state, electronically steered radar built to be smaller and lighter than traditional radar systems with similar performance, a design meant to let it fit on vehicles and stationary mounts without adding significant weight or power draw. The radar feeds range, speed, bearing and other tracking data to the weapon station’s fire-control system, which the companies say helps the gun hold a stable lock on fast, small drones that are difficult for older sensors to track.

“Integrating MESA radar gives the PROTECTOR family the precise, stable and persistent tracks needed to cue the fire-control system, sustain target lock and act decisively against fast-moving, low-signature drone threats,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “Just as important, MESA delivers that performance in a compact, software-defined package that can scale across a large installed base and adapt as the threat evolves.”

The radar becomes especially useful when PROTECTOR systems fire programmable airburst rounds, ammunition set to detonate near a target rather than on direct impact. Precise tracking of a drone’s speed and distance helps the system time the round’s detonation to catch the target in its flight path. The radar can also work alongside other sensors on the battlefield, receiving a target track from a separate radar or spotting system and refining it for the weapon station to use.

Echodyne and KONGSBERG have spent several years testing the radar-equipped system together before this announcement, the companies said, and plan to keep working on other uses for the radar across KONGSBERG’s broader product line. Beyond the PROTECTOR integrations already announced, the companies did not specify which additional systems they are exploring or provide a timeline.

Echodyne has previously supplied radar for counter-drone work with the Australian Defence Force and other security applications, but this marks its selection for KONGSBERG’s PROTECTOR line specifically. The two companies are exhibiting the system this week at the MSPO defense exhibition in Kielce, Poland, which runs through September 11.

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