How experts plan to protect civilian and military spaces from drones – with scalable, autonomous and non-destructive solutions
The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation – SPRIND for short – is a government-run organization with the goal of promoting groundbreaking technologies that can fundamentally change our lives. Through initiatives such as Challenges and Sparks, it encourages innovators to develop solutions for key societal challenges.
A recent article on the topic addresses the growing threat posed by micro and miniature drones. These are increasingly being used in both civilian and military contexts – for example, for surveillance, sabotage, or in swarm formations. Their small size, autonomy, and difficult-to-detect signature make them a serious threat to airports, stadiums, critical infrastructure, and emergency services.
The SPRIND Funke “Anti-Drone Response” therefore calls for a paradigm shift: The search is on for scalable, fully autonomous defense systems that can detect, classify, and neutralize drones with reversible, non-kinetic measures such as redirection, blocking, or targeted disorientation – without collateral damage or endangering third parties.
The goal is an adaptive, integrated system that operates in real time without external communication or human intervention. Coordinated swarm solutions, soft-kill AI, or multimodal early warning systems that combine optical, acoustic, and thermal data are also conceivable.
Performance will be tested in two stages: first with a simple target UAV, and later under realistic conditions. Systems relying on jamming, explosives, or proprietary closed-source technologies are excluded.
The long-term goal is to create a technical infrastructure that systematically neutralizes drone attacks – operationally, economically, and tactically. This initiative is aimed at visionary teams who want to set new standards in drone defense through precision, resilience, and intelligent system integration.
Source: www.aerospace.nrw
