Bengaluru-based defence technology company Zulu Defence Systems has released a video showcasing its CLAD counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS). The video highlights the ability of CLAD to launch five DRAP loitering munitions from a field-deployed launcher.

Zulu Defence calls CLAD the “future of distributed air defence” as the system allows for a mobile and deployable response to aerial threats. The latest video provides a look at what the launcher can do on the battlefield in a field setting, acting as a self-contained unit of air-defence.

CLAD Demonstrates Five-Munition Launch

The demonstration shows the five DRAP loitering munitions being launched. Zulu Defence has described the munitions as being able to neutralise hostile unmanned aerial systems, including kamikaze drones.

Unlike conventional ground-based air-defence systems which typically utilise missiles or guns, a loitering munition can be launched towards an area of interest and use its own flight capability to locate or engage a target.

The video showcases the launch capability, but Zulu Defence has not publicly stated out parameters such as the number of simultaneous targets that CLAD can engage against, the maximum range DRAP can achieve, endurance, its warhead and seeker characteristics.

Designed for Distributed Air Defence

The concept that CLAD presents is one of distributed air-defence. Instead of concentrating air-defence assets at a specific point, multiple relatively mobile systems can be deployed to different points.

The video shows CLAD being mounted on open ground, suggesting that the system would have to be moved to different points. Such mobility can be beneficial to protecting forward military positions, logistics nodes, command posts and other tactical assets from low-cost unmanned threats. However, the operational utility also depends on the wider surveillance and command-and-control networks that CLAD can be integrated into.

DRAP Targets Drone Threats

Zulu Defence has stated that the CLAD architecture integrates DRAP loitering munitions to counter kamikaze drones and MALE UAVs.

The latter is a more challenging class as MALE platforms are significantly larger and perform differently to small tactical drones. The company’s public material does not provide enough information to judge the engagement envelope for different UAV classes.

The system’s reliance on a loitering munition can potentially give operators another option instead of utilising expensive surface-to-air missiles against selected unmanned targets.

India’s Growing C-UAS Requirement

The proliferation of drones and loitering munitions in recent conflicts has resulted in the increased need for layered counter-UAS capabilities. Indian forces also appear to be looking to develop systems that can detect, track and neutralise hostile drones.

For India’s private defence industry, systems that can protect tactical assets against drone attacks are also showing the value in developing C-UAS capabilities indigenously. A distributed architecture can also complement conventional air-defence systems to provide additional protection against lower-cost unmanned threats.

Edited by Raunak Kunde