Leonardo DRS Launches New Maritime Counter-UAS Capability to Defeat Aerial Unmanned Threats at Sea

April 20, 2026

Leonardo DRS, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRS) announced today it has successfully integrated its Maritime Mission Equipment Package (M-MEP) on an autonomous unmanned surface vessel (AUSV), delivering a new counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) capability designed to detect, track, identify, and defeat aerial unmanned threats operating in the maritime domain. Built for rapid integration on crewed and uncrewed platforms, the solution provides a mission-ready layer of protection for ships, ports, littoral infrastructure, and expeditionary forces facing an increasingly complex drone threat environment.

“Aerial unmanned threats are evolving quickly — in range, autonomy, and numbers,” said Cari Ossenfort, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics business unit. “The M-MEP is engineered to help the U.S. Navy and allied forces stay ahead of that threat with a modular package that brings sensors, command and control, and defeat options together into one integrated capability that can be fielded fast.”

From small commercial quadcopters to more capable long-range UAS, unmanned aerial threats now represent a persistent risk to maritime operations. The M-MEP is designed to compress the time from requirement to operational capability by packaging detection through defeat into a single, scalable system that can be adapted across a range of maritime platforms — including uncrewed surface vessels – USVs.

The M-MEP combines maritime radar and EO-IR sensors with integrated networking, the SAGEcore™ software platform for AI-enabled sensor fusion and command and control, and a platform integration kit that accelerates installation across multiple vessel types.

Leonardo DRS will showcase the M-MEP integrated onto the Sea Machines STORMRUNNER AUSV at the Navy League Sea-Air-Space Symposium. Attendees are invited to visit Leonardo DRS outside the exhibition hall at Dock 9 to learn how the system can help the U.S. Navy to detect, identify, track, and defeat aerial unmanned threats faster with rapidly fieldable, modular, interoperable C-UAS protection that boosts maritime domain awareness, reduces operator workload, and extends layered defense to ships and USVs.

Source : Leonardo DRS