NATO launched a marketplace for counter-drone systems (C-UAS) on 5 November, enabling allies to acquire solutions directly from NATO's catalogue without conducting their own procurement procedures. According to a NATO press release, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) selected 16 solutions from five companies: Alta Ares, Axon Enterprise, Northrop Grumman, OSL UK, and Quantum Systems.
The marketplace operates as part of Drone Edge, an initiative introduced at NATO's defence industry forum in connection with the summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July. According to NATO, the goal is to provide allies faster access to systems designed for urgent operational needs. The competitively selected solutions include stationary, transportable, and mobile systems that can operate on the move, with NATO noting they are already in operational use in allied nations and in Ukraine.
NCIA, which also hosts NATO's Counter-UAS Centre of Expertise, is responsible for the multi-supplier framework agreements, which will run for eighteen months. While the press release did not state the total value of the framework agreements, NATO plans to hold recurring competitions to ensure continuous access to the latest technology. In addition, NATO has allocated 3.1 million euros for further testing of the selected systems, which can be executed by allied member states or NATO military commands.
The new platform complements commitments made by allies under Drone Edge to invest more than 40 billion dollars in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years. Other connected efforts include an October contract awarded to Danish firm Robotto via NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to test autonomous drone software, as well as a letter of intent signed by the United States in June with nine NATO allies—including Denmark, Norway, and Sweden—to establish a similar counter-drone marketplace.
Also reported by Inside Unmanned Systems, Army Technology, Infodefensa, Unmanned Airspace and SSBulten
