South African counter-drone system completes proof-of-concept trials
November 25, 2025 – Pretoria – based military engineering company Centauri Technologies has announced that its TriAD counter-drone system successfully completed integrated, multi-layered C-UAS (counter-unmanned aerial system) capability trials in a vehicle-mounted configuration.
“Our recent trials validated Centauri’s TriAD system, which fuses radar, RF (radio frequency) and electro-optical sensors with AI decision-support to detect, prioritise and defeat hostile drones in real time with multiple hard-kill effectors,” said Xander Louw, chief product officer.
The system was shown publicly for the first time in February this year at the IDEX2025 international defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“Since then, we’ve refined the TriAD system’s capabilities, leading to the extensive series of controlled proof-of-concept trials,” Louw stated. “These are designed to demonstrate end-to-end detection, tracking, identification and defeat of small unmanned aerial systems from one interoperable system.”
The tests combined proven sensors with Centauri’s remotely operated weapon stations (ROWS) and a unified Command and Control stack. This showed how a single vehicle-integrated solution can provide effective, layered protection for convoys, bases and high-value assets.
While TriAD is developed as a sensor agnostic platform to integrate various detection and tracking sensors, the remotely operated weapon stations (ROWS) are Centauri proprietary systems.
They comprise the CRx-7 (7.62 mm LMG), CRx-30 (30×113 mm cannon) and CRx-40 (six-shot 40 mm grenade launcher) remote weapon stations, providing a graduated kinetic response.
The trials proved that tracking from the 360° radars matched with RF detections and EO/IR imagery from the optical sensors significantly reduces false positives, thus enabling speedy identification and fast confident engagement decisions.
Importantly, the TriAD’s decision-support algorithm proved that it ranks multiple simultaneous contacts, which produced engagement orderings aligned with the operator judgement.
“This in effect means the Command and Control (C2) system fuses radar, RF and optical tracks into a single tactical picture, which feeds AI-based classifiers,” Louw explained. “In this manner, threats are prioritised and the operator gets recommendations for an optimal effector, i.e. which weapon to use.”
In the event of a low-threat reconnaissance drone, the operator could use RF jamming or fire the CRx-7 7.62 mm light machine gun (LMG). For higher-risk or hardened drone platforms, the 30 mm CRx-30 cannon (long-range) or CRx-40 (close-in protection) grenade launcher could be fired using airburst munitions.
The TriAD features human-machine interface (HMI) that allows the operator fast handover between the sensor feeds and provides single-click selection of recommended effectors (weapons) or manual override.
According to Louw, Centauri’s design priorities focused on modularity and export flexibility.
“The TriAD can be configured with different sensor/effector mixes, depending on customer needs,” he stressed. “Some might prefer a sensor-heavy detection grid with soft-kill options, while others would opt for a hard-kill vehicle-mounted solution for contested environments.”
Its architecture allows integration on armoured vehicles, naval vessels or as static installations, such as around airfields and military bases. Thanks to its compact and low weight design, it can be integrated even on light vehicles, which enhances interoperability with allied forces.
Louw explained that Centauri’s trials reflect an industry-wide shift toward layered, networked counter-UAS approaches that combine sensors, soft-kill and hard-kill options under unified decision systems. Customers benefit from TriAD’s single vendor-delivered integration that shortens time-to-deploy compared with assembling disparate subsystems.
“What remains for us to do, is acceptance testing and qualification,” he said. “Centauri will soon expand the trial envelope to include EW resilience tests, GNSS denial scenarios and longer-range integration with vehicle convoys,” Louw concluded.
Photo courtesy Centauri Technologies
