Echodyne, the radar platform company, and ACS, a precision robotics company for defense, today announced the signing of a Strategic Collaboration Agreement to accelerate the development, demonstration, and deployment of integrated counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) solutions. The agreement establishes collaboration across Echodyne’s high-performance commercial counter-UAS radar hardware and software roadmaps and ACS’s Bullfrog robotic weapon station capabilities, and follows the recent announcement of each company’s award from Joint Interagency Task Force 401 for Domestic Shield, the JIATF-401 C-UAS Marketplace, and other critical counter-drone requirements.
Bullfrog combines computer vision, autonomous control, and precision robotics with existing weapon systems to detect, track, identify, and engage unmanned threats. Integrating Echodyne’s precise radar track data extends this capability with persistent airspace positional information, providing earlier awareness and high-confidence target tracks that enhance Bullfrog’s ability to rapidly orient sensors, maintain custody of maneuvering threats, and develop effective firing solutions.
The collaboration advances ACS’s focus on fusing multiple sources of high-quality sensor data to enhance weapon system performance. EchoShield generates precise location and velocity data for a wide range of drone types and flight profiles, supporting faster target acquisition and increasing the time available to evaluate and defeat incoming threats. The system’s open interfaces allow radar data to flow directly into Bullfrog and broader command-and-control (C2) platforms.
“Counter-UAS effectiveness begins with data quality,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “Bullfrog brings together advanced robotics, AI, and widely available weapons to solve one of the most urgent challenges facing defense forces today. Combining ACS’s autonomous weapon station with the precision of EchoShield radar creates a highly capable and economically scalable solution for the United States and allied customers operating across land and maritime domains."
Echodyne’s patented MESA® radar architecture delivers electronically scanned array performance in compact, low-size, weight, power, and cost systems. EchoShield is a commercial-off-the-shelf radar manufactured using commercial materials, processes, and supply chains. Its combination of high-fidelity data, open integration, and commercial scalability aligns closely with ACS’s approach to changing counter-UAS economics.
By pairing commercially manufactured radar with standard-issue weapons and ammunition, the integrated solution provides accurate sensing and kinetic defeat without the recurring cost and limited magazine depth associated with specialized missile interceptors.
“Bullfrog was designed to transform existing weapons into precise, autonomous defense systems and to fuse the best available data into every engagement,” said Mike Wior, co-founder and CEO, ACS. “Echodyne’s commercial radar technology provides the accurate, high-fidelity track data needed to identify threats earlier, maintain custody, and deliver effective kinetic outcomes. Our partnership also enables on-the-move defense, helping protect warfighters against drone threats while they maneuver. Together, we are creating a scalable solution that gives warfighters greater awareness, more decision time, and an affordable way to defeat drones at operational scale.”
Maritime operations are an important focus of the collaboration. Bullfrog’s compact architecture and ability to operate on crewed and uncrewed platforms make it well suited to protecting distributed maritime forces and coastal infrastructure. EchoShield is increasingly integrated aboard uncrewed surface vessels for maritime awareness and C-UAS missions, where compact size, low power consumption, on-the-move performance, and precise multi-domain tracking are essential.
Together, they provide maritime platforms with an integrated sensor-to-effector capability: detecting and tracking aerial and surface activity, directing precision robotics, and enabling operators to respond rapidly.
Echodyne and ACS will continue integrated testing and participation in U.S. Department of War demonstration events designed to evaluate the combined system under representative operational conditions. The companies expect these activities to inform further product integration and support customer requirements across fixed-site, mobile, expeditionary, and maritime missions.
The Strategic Collaboration Agreement reflects both companies’ commitment to open architectures, rapid integration, commercial manufacturing, and affordable systems that can be fielded at the scale required to meet evolving unmanned threats.
