Leonardo DRS adapts C-UAS for ≥14 ft vessels

Leonardo DRS’s maritime counter-drone package is less a brand-new weapon than a repackaging of an existing ground-based counter-UAS stack for use at sea. The company said on April 20 that it had integrated its Maritime Mission Equipment Package, or M-MEP, on an autonomous unmanned surface vessel, creating a modular system to detect, track, identify and defeat aerial unmanned threats in the maritime domain. (leonardodrs.com) The company’s own product material says the system is meant for crewed and uncrewed vessels and adapts Leonardo DRS’s ground counter-UAS technology for sea-based operations. (cdn.leonardodrs.com) A Leonardo DRS datasheet circulating in August says the package is designed for “manned and unmanned naval vessels” and for platforms as small as 14 feet, a detail that explains why the system has drawn attention in recent defense posts. (leonardodrs.com) ### Why does the 14-foot threshold matter? The 14-foot figure points to a market well below traditional warships. Leonardo DRS says M-MEP can be configured across a range of unmanned surface vessels, “from small to large,” and the datasheet indicates the package is intended for very small craft as well as larger naval platforms. (leonardodrs.com) That matters because many current maritime drone concepts center on small autonomous boats used for scouting, perimeter security, harbor defense and distributed sensing. By setting the floor at 14 feet, Leonardo DRS is signaling that it wants the package to fit not only crewed ships but also compact uncrewed surface vessels that can carry sensors and effectors close to shore. That is an inference from the company’s stated platform range and the small-vessel specification. (leonardodrs.com) ### What is actually inside the package? Leonardo DRS said the package combines maritime radar, electro-optical and infrared sensors, integrated networking, the company’s SAGEcore software for AI-enabled sensor fusion and command and control, and a platform integration kit for faster installation. The product page adds that the open architecture is built to accommodate kinetic and non-kinetic effectors, software-definable sensors and communications packages. (leonardodrs.com) The practical point is that M-MEP is being sold as a full kill-chain bundle rather than a single sensor. Leonardo DRS said it packages “detection through defeat” into one scalable system, while Cari Ossenfort, senior vice president and general manager of the Naval Electronics business unit, said the company aimed to bring sensors, command and control, and defeat options together in a capability that “can be fielded fast.” (leonardodrs.com) ### Is this built for ships, ports or coastal fighting? Leonardo DRS named all three. The April 20 release said the system is intended to protect ships, ports, littoral infrastructure and expeditionary forces against increasingly complex drone threats. The product page likewise frames the package as a maritime counter-UAS system for airborne threats at sea. (leonardodrs.com) The emphasis on littoral infrastructure and expeditionary forces suggests the company is targeting coastal and near-shore operations where small drones and small surface craft can compress warning times and complicate identification. That framing comes from Leonardo DRS’s own description of the operating environment. (leonardodrs.com) ### Where has Leonardo DRS shown it so far? Leonardo DRS said it would showcase the package on a Sea Machines STORMRUNNER autonomous unmanned surface vessel at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Symposium. The company invited attendees to view the system at Dock 9 outside the exhibition hall. (leonardodrs.com) As of early September 2026, the most concrete public reference points remain the April 20 Leonardo DRS launch materials, the company’s M-MEP product page and the August datasheet that includes the 14-foot platform detail. Those documents are the clearest places to track how Leonardo DRS is defining the system and the vessel classes it wants to serve. (leonardodrs.com)