L3Harris demos autonomous EW system
L3Harris demonstrated Deceptor, an autonomous electronic‑warfare system that can detect, locate and neutralize threats in real time during a U.S. Army experiment. The demo expands autonomy discussion beyond physical platforms into spectrum operations and electronic defense. (defence-industry.eu)
Electronic warfare is the fight over radio signals — the invisible links that guide drones, radios and sensors. On April 14, 2026, L3Harris said it had shown a system that could find and jam those signals on its own during a recent United States Army experiment. (l3harris.com) L3Harris said the test used its Deceptor payload, a compact radio-frequency package mounted on multiple unmanned aerial systems. The company said the payload detected, geolocated and neutralized threats in real time. (l3harris.com) The company said Deceptor operated inside its Distributed Spectrum Collaboration and Operations system, or DiSCO, which pooled data from several sensors and coordinated jamming across the battlefield. L3Harris described the setup as “AI-enabled” and said it fused sensor data before executing radio-frequency effects. (l3harris.com) In plain terms, the system is meant to do in the electromagnetic spectrum what autonomous drones do in the air: sense danger, decide faster and act without waiting for every human instruction. L3Harris says Deceptor is built for small unmanned air, ground and maritime platforms, where size, weight, power and cost are tightly constrained. (l3harris.com) That matters because modern militaries now treat the electromagnetic spectrum as contested terrain, not just a support function for radios. L3Harris says its electronic-warfare business spans air, land and sea systems designed to detect, deceive and deny hostile emitters across that spectrum. (l3harris.com) The Deceptor announcement also follows another autonomy-focused electronic-warfare test by L3Harris on March 11, 2026, with Shield AI. In that earlier event, the companies said they linked electronic-warfare payloads, a Green Wolf vehicle and Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy software in a test environment meant to mimic real operations. (l3harris.com) The company has not publicly identified the Army unit, the location of the experiment or the specific threats used in the April 2026 demonstration. The public description comes from an L3Harris press release and follow-on trade coverage, which repeated the company’s account. (l3harris.com) (defence-industry.eu) L3Harris said future demonstrations will connect Deceptor to more systems so it can work across more domains and platforms. For now, the April 2026 test puts autonomy one step deeper into the signal fight, where speed is measured in milliseconds instead of miles. (defence-industry.eu)
