Paramount Group, the worldwide aviation and innovation organization, reported today that its multi-mission, Mwari aerial platform has been armed with cutting edge anti-drone technologies, empowering the sending of the airplane as a powerful tracker and enemy of Medium Altitude and Long Endurance Drones (MALEs).
The perfect sheet planned Mwari is the next development in Find, Fix and Finish advances streamlined for the counter drone protection climate, fit for engaging MALE drones at elevations of 20,000-30,000 feet, where just profoundly modern and exorbitant ground-based air defense systems (GBADS) can reach, and which would somehow require the intervention of fighter jets.
Progressed sensors, a lengthy reach, and pinpoint exactness are at the very front of the Mwari imaginative framework configuration, making the stage an ideal answer for the dangers presented by MALE drones to the regional honesty of sovereign countries.
The Mwari is equipped for dallying at any rate speed of 110kts for as long as 10 hours of flight time (with optional external fuel tanks for added endurance). It can be fully equipped with new generation, multi-role air-to-air missiles (with an engagement range of 4,000m) alongside rapid-fire, wing-mounted cannon pods (with an engagement range of 800m), offering the latest in advanced anti-drone lethality.
This capability builds on inherent onboard situational awareness technologies such as an encrypted, high-bandwidth data link and multi-spectrum search and track sensors, long-range optical and radar surveillance systems, a SA7 CRM – Satellite Communication link, AIS – Ship ID Systems and real-time video; today, mission-critical hardware and software which can assess targets, including MALEs in the 2,000 kg class, typically flown in high altitude surveillance patterns.
Superior crew and sensor visibility of the unique Mwari design provides ultimate situational awareness, either during day or night, ensuring that the aerial platform can undertake a wide range of missions, in austere and remote environments and on unprepared runways while requiring a limited logistical footprint.
Steve Griessel, CEO of Paramount Group, stated that, “Historically, prohibitive costs have restricted anti-drone systems targeting MALE drone threats. Amidst this paradigm is where the Mwari perfectly steps in, the next and best-in-class precision technology, and able to operate at a fraction of the cost of alternative anti-drone solutions. No other singular aircraft has such an intuitive multi-mission application or can reach similar altitudes while hosting what is the industry’s gold standard in situational awareness technology.”
An Interchangeable Multi-Mission System Bay (IMSB) located in the fuselage further allows for system changes ‘on the fly;’ updates, additions, and integrations in real-time are made possible, ensuring that the single airframe can be easily re-configured for different missions. Despite hosting such highly advanced technologies, the Mwari can be rapidly disassembled, transported in a C-130 or equivalent, and reassembled at a remote base, by a small crew with
minimal infrastructure.
Griesel concluded “We look forward to leveraging the innovative Mwari’s robust applications as the pre-eminent anti-drone defence solution and to its exciting next steps in adoption by our global partners,” .
Drawing on both Paramount Group’s commitment to innovation and its extensive research and development (R&D) and manufacturing experience, the Mwari has been designed with portable production in mind. The aircraft could, depending on customer requirements, be exported in kit format for final assembly in customer countries and can easily integrate into supply chains around the world, enabling scalable mass production.