SAHA Expo – Aselsan unveils new EW pods for UAVs

At SAHA Expo, the defence exhibition that took place in Istanbul in late October, Aselsan, the Turkish champion in electronic defence unveiled a series of pods dedicated to UAVs, allowing unmanned platforms to carry out electronic attack and intelligence missions

The lighter pod is in fact a group of three pods named Antidot 2-U LB (Low Band), 2-U MB (Middle Band) and 2-U HB (High Band). Each one is capable to provide jamming in its own band identifying and defending against air defence threats the platform itself as well as nearby air assets, ensuring an escort jamming mission. This mini-pod is very compact, its mass is under 10 kg, has a 380 W power consumption, and features a small radar cross section. The pod comes in the form of a parallelepipedal box containing all the electronics, with a directional antenna at the front, protected by a radome ending in a spherical shape, and an omnidirectional antenna underneath, protected by a cylindric radome, ensuring 360° coverage. EDR On-Line understood that the pod can operate either in directional or omnidirectional mode.

The Antidot 2-U is a much bigger system, its mass is 35 kg, and is a multiband electronic attack jammer, with a bandwidth which is wider than the sum of the three bands of the aforementioned smaller system. No indications were given on output power, but the declared power consumption, 1,100 W, and the cooling grids visible on the sides of the parallelepiped body, make it clear that the 2-U is a much powerful jammer capable to disturb enemy emissions at longer range, the front and rear identical radomes hiding antennas that provide 360° coverage. The Antidot 2-U also features some electronic support measures capability, as it is able to detect radars and can be used in the direction-finding mission, albeit with a lesser accuracy compared to purposely designed ESM pods.

Last but not least comes the Antidot 2-U/S, an electronic support pod capable to carry out electronic intelligence as well as electronic support measures missions. Fully passive, its power consumption should me much lower than that of active systems, although it was not declared. It features a series of antennas, two at each extremity, the front and rear covers providing that the antennas are looking right and left at 45° from the centreline, and four on each side in the rear part of the pod body. The Antidot 2-U/S has a mass around 30 kg, and is capable to detect, record, and locate signals from threat radars, ensuring precise threat identification and location, with a much higher accuracy compared to the Antidot 2-U, the latter main mission being jamming.

These pods allow transforming non-dedicated electronic warfare UAVs into platforms capable to conduct SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences) providing information about the threat and ensuring platform or formation protection against enemy assets.

Photos by P. Valpolini