From National Defense Magazine:
Advanced EO technology is featured in nine new M-ACE “gun truck” counter-drone systems shipping to Ukraine:
“A Northrop Grumman-led team developed the ‘Agnostic Gun Truck,’ which incorporates a lightweight 30mm M230 cannon currently used on Apache helicopters.
“’M-ACE incorporates a mix of mast-mounted 3D radar with drone detection to 10 kilometers, tracking and identification cameras and other electronic capabilities’ and ’provides the ability to detect, identify, track and defeat enemy UAS,’ said Rob Menti, senior manager for business development at Northrop Grumman Armament Systems.
“’The system is able to provide a cue to the gun trucks that puts the gun directly on the target, while maintaining a man-in-the-loop. This capability reduces the cognitive load on the operator, as the target is put directly in their sight, and they know that the UAS has been determined to be a threat.’
“Firing demonstrations in October 2021 showed the effectiveness of the truck firing the new round against a range of challenging unmanned aerial system profiles that included Class 2-plus drones moving at speeds exceeding 30 kilometers per hour laterally from the firing location.”