The system is intended to address the growing use of small drones in combat zones, including commercial first-person-view aircraft adapted for one-way attack missions. L3Harris said a layered air defence approach is needed because a single system cannot address every drone threat cost-effectively.
Wraith Shield builds on L3Harris’ Wraith waveform, a wideband, fast frequency-hopping tactical waveform developed in the early 2020s and already fielded in operations facing sophisticated electronic warfare threats. The company’s Rapid Prototyping Group began developing the Wraith Shield upgrade last year to counter smaller commercial drones used against military targets.
“Wraith Shield is a prime example of how L3Harris continues to innovate as the Trusted Disruptor in the market,” said Chris Aebli, President, Mission Critical Communications, L3Harris. “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.”
The software will be deployed later this year on the RF-9820S Compact Team Radio, also known as the AN/PRC-171, and its embeddable RF-9820S-ER version. L3Harris said it will later be available as a software upgrade for all Wraith-capable tactical radios, including more than 100,000 systems already fielded by militaries, such as the AN/PRC-158C, AN/PRC-163 and AN/PRC-167.
According to L3Harris, adding AI-enabled radio-frequency sensing gives Wraith Shield a “radio-as-a-sensor” capability that can operate inside distributed, data-centric networks. The company said the system can function as a stand-alone tool against drones using commercial command links or integrate with other counter-UxS systems.
“Our role as an industry partner to U.S. and coalition forces is to protect ground operators and provide the most reliable, secure and assured communications,” said Rob Mariuz, Director, Product Management, L3Harris. “Our new Wraith Shield capability has been designed to seamlessly integrate with and enhance existing air defense systems by adding thousands of distributed sensors.”
L3Harris said Wraith Shield can target smaller drones by disrupting their functionality, while systems such as VAMPIRE and Drone Guardian can focus on larger threats. The approach is intended to strengthen layered air defence by using widely fielded radios already carried by soldiers.
To complete the system, L3Harris worked with DataShapes AI to create a visualisation capability for the local electromagnetic environment. DataShapes AI’s GlobalEdge platform classifies distributed RF data and displays it on user devices so soldiers can identify airborne systems and respond to potential threats.
“This capability closes the gap between sensing and action in a way that directly impacts survivability on the battlefield,” said Paul Craft, President of DataShapes AI and former U.S. Army Chief of Cyber and EW. “By delivering clear, real-time visibility of the electromagnetic environment to the tactical edge, we are giving warfighters the situational awareness and – most importantly – the speed they need to see-sense-shoot and outpace adversaries in increasingly complex and contested environments.”
When connected to Wraith-capable devices, Wraith Shield with DataShapes AI software can feed information into C5ISR applications. L3Harris said these include MissionOps tactical network management and hC2 battle management suites.
“It brings sensors to the front line and the tactical edge, because the soldiers already have the body-worn communications systems,” said Tom Sheehan, Lead, Product Management, L3Harris. “Further, the frequency bands are very important. The RF-9820S supports operation in the same frequency bands commonly used by most attritable FPV drones. The soldiers who would benefit most from Wraith Shield already carry the equipment needed to use it.”
L3Harris said Wraith Shield is intended to expand what tactical radios can provide by combining communications, sensing and protective effects. The company described the software as a scalable capability built on software-defined radio architectures to support troops operating in increasingly complex battlespaces.
