The proliferation of drone warfare in combat zones worldwide has created a dynamic shift in military strategy, demanding effective protection for both national borders and deployed troops. The breadth of unmanned systems in adversarial inventories presents a layered challenge, as warfighters must contend with sophisticated large unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as well as attritable commercial drones deliberately weaponized for one-way attack missions against personnel and critical assets. A single air defense system cannot contend with every drone threat, nor is it feasible to deliver the same kinetic effect for a large UAS as for a first-person view (FPV) drone costing just a few hundred dollars. A layered posture is required to cost-effectively defend against this new form of warfare.
To meet this critical need, warfighters in forward deployed environments will soon have access to L3Harris Technologies’ Wraith Shield software — a capability that turns existing tactical radios widely fielded across U.S., NATO, Five Eyes, and allied forces into mobile, AI-enabled radio frequency sensing and effects platforms that serve as a shield against small drone attacks.
Chris Aebli, President of Mission Critical Communications at L3Harris, stated:
“Wraith Shield is a prime example of how L3Harris continues to innovate as the Trusted Disruptor in the market. It enables operators to disrupt hostile drone signals directly from their radios. With the press of a button, personnel can neutralize attritable unmanned systems, causing them to drop from the sky.”
L3Harris developed the Wraith waveform — the first wideband, fast frequency-hopping tactical waveform — in the early 2020s, and it is fielded today in operations where communications face sophisticated electronic warfare attacks. As an enhancement, the company’s Rapid Prototyping Group began developing the Wraith Shield upgrade last year to counter adversaries’ ability to deploy smaller commercial drones.
The Wraith Shield capability will be deployed on the RF-9820S Compact Team Radio (AN/PRC-171) and its embeddable version, the RF-9820S-ER, later this year. It will also be available as a future software upgrade on all Wraith-capable tactical radios — including the more than 100,000 systems already fielded.
A Converged Solution for Layered Air Defense
With AI-enabled RF sensing, Wraith Shield delivers a radio-as-a-sensor capability that integrates into distributed, data-centric networks. The capability can be used stand-alone or integrated with other counter-UxS systems, allowing larger systems like VAMPIRE to focus on bigger threats while Wraith Shield targets smaller drones.
Visualizing the Small Drone Threat Environment
L3Harris partnered with DataShapes AI to create a visualization system that enables users to actively see potential threats in the electromagnetic spectrum. DataShapes AI’s GlobalEdge platform transforms distributed RF data into real-time, actionable intelligence at the tactical edge.
Paul Craft, President of DataShapes AI and former U.S. Army Chief of Cyber and EW, concluded:
“This capability closes the gap between sensing and action in a way that directly impacts survivability on the battlefield. By delivering clear, real-time visibility of the electromagnetic environment to the tactical edge, we are giving warfighters the situational awareness and speed they need to see-sense-shoot and outpace adversaries.”
