Throughout 2025, the use of commercially available drones has become increasingly widespread. Within the context of hybrid warfare, UAVs act as low-cost, high-impact enablers across the conventional, irregular, informational and cyber domains.
Adversaries employ these platforms for a range of operations, often within legally ambiguous or technologically complex environments, amidst a highly dynamic operating environment that places considerable demands on defenders.
Indeed, responding to the hybrid UAV threat comes with several interconnected difficulties. For example, detecting small and inexpensive UAVs remains one of the most persistent operational challenges facing today’s militaries – particularly in urban and vegetated terrains that create blind spots and signal reflections that mask UAV movement. There’s also the challenge of distinguishing between hostile and civilian UAVs, not to mention the complexities associated with rules of engagement (ROE) considerations and the sustainment of countermeasures.
This all points to the need for an integrated, end-to-end drone defence system that integrates detection, command and control (C2) fusion and a spectrum of defeat mechanisms. Such a system must:
- Collect data from a range of sensors including RF and electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) imaging
- Fuse that data within an AI-enabled C2 network for rapid threat classification and prioritisation
- Include both non-kinetic and kinetic effector options
These capabilities are all core to the BAE Systems Anti Threat System (BATS). Download our new whitepaper to discover how BATS can meet the need for a new generation of countermeasures amidst today’s rapidly evolving UAV threat environment.
BAE Systems Anti Threat System
BAE Systems Anti Threat System (BATS) is a new software defined solution, enabled by C2 and decision support, to counter uncrewed threats.
It's a modular, software-driven decision engine that unlocks the full potential of your current and future sensors and effectors. It fuses intelligence, delivers rapid decision logic, and adapts at speed across the entire threat spectrum.