On November 29, 2022, the US Department of Defense Agency for Military Cooperation (Defense Security Cooperation Agency - DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned upcoming sale to Qatar through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) of ten new ground-based complexes to combat unmanned aerial vehicles FS-LIDS (Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System) co-produced by Raytheon and Northrop Grumman corporations. This delivery is approved by the U.S. Department of State. The total cost of the proposed delivery will be $ 1 billion, including training, related equipment and technical support.
Launch of the Raytheon Coyote Block 2 barrage interceptor munition from the launcher of the station version of the American complex for combating unmanned aerial vehicles FS-LIDS (Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System) (Howler C-UAS) at the Yuma training ground (Arizona), December 2021 (with) RaytheonAccording to the notification, the delivery to Qatar as part of the FS-LIDS complexes will include 200 Coyote Block 2 barrage interceptor ammunition, their launchers, CUAEWS (Counter Unmanned Electronic Warfare System) UAV electronic suppression systems, KuMRFS (Ku Band Multi-function Radio Frequency System) multifunctional detection and guidance radars, FAAD C2 control systems (Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control); electron-optical UAV detection stations, and other equipment.
FS-LIDSC complexes will be made in a stationary containerized version.
Qatar became the first known foreign customer of the FS-LIDS complex, used since 2018 (apparently in small quantities) by the US Army and Marine Corps, where it is designated Howler C-UAS.
The FS-LIDS complex is a combination of the KuMRFS multifunctional radar station (Ku-band) and an electron-optical station used for detecting small UAVs, multi-charge launchers of Coyote Block 2 barrage interceptor ammunition, the CUAEWS radio-technical detection and electronic suppression of communication channels, control and navigation of UAVs, and the FAAD C2 control system. It is possible to introduce other UAV destruction systems into the complex (automatic cannons and grenade launchers with programmable ammunition, laser installations).
The Coyote Block 2 barrage interceptor munition was developed by Raytheon and is essentially a small cheap low-speed subsonic anti-aircraft missile equipped with a solid-fuel launch accelerator and a miniature short-life turbojet engine. Detailed characteristics of Coyote Block 2 are not disclosed. The guidance system is apparently a radio command, according to the KuMRFS radar. The warhead is fragmentation. The maximum range of destruction was called "more than 15 km", while it was reported that the duration of the flight of the Coyote Block 2 is longer than this distance, and the device is capable of turning around and retargeting for repeated interception in case of a miss. The Coyote Block 2 can also be used as a "traditional" barrage munition (in fact, missiles) to defeat ground targets, being offered to foreign customers for this purpose. In the interests of the US Army and Navy, since 2021, the Coyote Block 3 ammunition is being worked out, equipped, among other things, with a certain "non-kinetic" warhead to defeat swarms of UAVs.
Initially, the FS-LIDS (Howler C-UAS) complex used a multi-purpose Coyote Block 1 barrage munition as an interceptor, originally developed by Advanced Ceramic Research (then called Sensintel), acquired by Raytheon in 2015. The Coyote Block 1 is a low-speed UAV with an electric motor and two pairs of folding wings and is structurally similar to the well-known AeroVironment Switchblade barrage ammunition. However, the clearly insufficient energy of the Coyote Block 1 for the tasks of intercepting UAVs forced the development of the Coyote Block 2 jet interceptor, first introduced in 2018, and, as can be understood, having structurally almost nothing in common with the Coyote Block 1, except for the control system.
In the US Armed Forces, Howler C-UAS complexes, in addition to the stationary version, were also demonstrated in versions on the chassis of the M-ATV armored vehicle (4x4) and the FMTV military truck (6x6), both with four-shot launchers, but the serial number of these variants is unknown. The AN/TPQ-50 counter-mortar radar is used as an additional means of detecting small UAVs in the complex in the US Armed forces.
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American complex for combating unmanned aerial vehicles FS-LIDS (Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System) (Howler C-UAS) (c) Air PowerSelf-propelled versions of the American complex for combating unmanned aerial vehicles FS-LIDS (Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System) (Howler C-UAS) in versions on the chassis of the armored vehicle M-ATV (4x4) and military truck FMTV (6x6) (c) Raytheon
Raytheon Coyote Block 2 Barrage Interceptor Munition (c) Jane's and Naval News
Video (from) Raytheon :
