UK engineers advance innovative way to tackle drone threats

Above: A soldier using the BAE Systems Anti Threat System (BATS).
Courtesy BAE Systems

The project is being funded and run by the country’s largest defence company, BAE Systems, which is leveraging its long-standing software expertise to create a cost-effective new system in just months, to address the growing threat posed to key civilian and military infrastructure.

The BAE Systems Anti Threat System or ‘BATS’ will enable customers to reduce the use of costly missiles by instead deploying smart software, electronic warfare and kinetic measures to tackle increasing drone incursion threats to national borders, military equipment, airports and urban centres.

Work to produce BATS began in October 2025 and is expected to be ready for system testing as soon as next month, followed by live-fire trials in early Summer this year – representing rapid capability development to help meet customer demands.  



Andrea Thompson, Group Managing Director at BAE Systems’ Digital Intelligence business, said: “Drone incursions are a clear and present issue, putting citizens, military personnel and infrastructure at risk. The technology evolves faster than traditional defence systems can respond, with new behaviours, payloads and tactics emerging almost daily. That’s why we’re moving at pace to build a new system to support our customers in their efforts against this very urgent problem."

BATS is a smart system with a scalable, software-driven command and control decision engine that will help customers detect, identify and defeat uncrewed threats, including drones, as fast as they evolve. It will feature an open architecture which means customers will be able to integrate current and future counter-threat technologies, including sensors and effectors from across multiple domains, into one system, which can be adapted for different use cases.

When deployed, BATS will detect uncrewed hostile activity early by fusing intelligence from multilayered sensors into its data core, identifying and classifying the threat level in real time. Its command and control and decision support capabilities will then apply rapid decision logic to help users decide on the most appropriate response. Work on BATS includes input from experts across BAE Systems, covering multiple domains including air, land and sea.