Germany's largest small arms maker Heckler & Koch is entering the drone defense business, the company's CEO said Wednesday.
Jens Bodo Koch said the company had received orders for such a system, at its corporate headquarters in Oberndorf, southwest of Stuttgart. He did not provide any more details.
“Drones pose an incredible threat to infantry soldiers, and there are only a few solutions at this time,” he said.
Heckler & Koch's new drone defense system involves grenade launchers or automatic grenade launchers that are mounted on vehicle turrets and are equipped with sensor boxes that use artificial intelligence to detect drones in the sky and evaluate their threat levels. The grenade is then programmed to explode near the drone.
“The metal clouds were created in the air, and the drone flew towards and were destroyed,” Koch explained, who had nothing to do with the company's founder Theodor Koch.
System development collaboration
For its drone defense system, Heckler & Koch is working with an autonomous team of artificial intelligence experts in Munich.
German weapons maker Rheinmetall is providing control components for grenades, while vehicle turrets are provided by Slovenia.
“We are the system providers that bring all of this together,” Koch said.
The project is still in development and has undergone preliminary shooting tests, but is expected to be completed and ready for sale by the end of the year.
