Echodyne Uniquely Positioned to Support Laser Effectors
The DEVCOM C5ISR Center/Unique Mission Cell Defense-in Depth Experiment exercise (DiDEX) tests emerging technologies under realistic, complex, contested conditions. The C5ISR Center’s Unique Mission Cell (UMC), in partnership with the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System Office (JCO), Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate executed DiDEX 2025 held in Austin, Texas.
The primary mission of DiDEX 2025 was to help the U.S. military identify innovative solutions that can detect and defeat small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) ) specifically in dense, urban or contested-environment conditions where traditional detection and defeat mechanisms face limitations.
DiDEX 2025 expanded its focus beyond aerial sUAS to address unmanned threats across the air, land, and sea domains.
C5ISR Laser Innovation Focus, Courtesy of C5ISR Center Public Affairs
During the exercise, Echodyne radars integrated with Aurelius Systems’ Archimedes Laser Sentinel platform—an autonomous directed-energy C-UAS system—to detect, classify, and track intruders while cueing the laser effector to defeat threats. Laser effectors are well-suited for urban environments because they minimize collateral damage and provide a more cost-effective alternative to conventional defeat mechanisms.
Echodyne enhances the effectiveness of Aurelius’ non-kinetic, scalable C-UAS system because its radar systems are low SWaP, cost effective and highly precise. EchoGuard quickly integrated with existing command networks within the Aurelius system demonstrating support for warfighting decision cycles under stress.
EchoGuard deployed in a dense urban setting. Courtesy of Echodyne.
“Echodyne is uniquely positioned to support next-generation non-kinetic counter-UxS solutions because MESA radars combine high-performance sensing with affordability and low SWAP. At DiDEX 2025, we showed how quickly EchoGuard can integrate into directed-energy systems to deliver effective urban defense at scale,” said Retired U.S. Army Colonel Rob Menti and Senior Manager, Business Development, Echodyne.