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As global conflicts intensify, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) increasingly target critical infrastructure, driving the need for advanced Counter-UAS technology. From government agencies to military forces, Counter-UAS capabilities are essential for detecting, neutralizing, and preventing drone-based threats. At the forefront of this mission is SPX Communication Technologies, whose BLACKTALON Ecosystem represents a significant advancement in Counter-UAS technology, integrating flexibility, scalability, and vendor-agnostic design to address today’s evolving threat landscape.

Understanding the Need for Counter-UAS Solutions in Critical Infrastructure Protection
The growing use of UAS by both state and non-state actors has elevated security risks for essential infrastructure, from energy facilities to government installations. With drones becoming more accessible and versatile, security agencies face a challenge: keeping pace with a dynamic, rapidly evolving threat that exploits low-cost, highly programmable drone technology. For this reason, Counter-UAS solutions are critical for maintaining infrastructure security and ensuring resilience against disruptive drone incursions.

The Rising UAS Threat to Critical Infrastructure
In recent years, UAS threats have evolved from surveillance activities and illicit operations, such as unauthorized sports event filming, to more malicious activities that target high-security areas. Even as drones serve valuable roles in areas like crowd management and emergency response, their misuse poses significant risks. The widespread deployment of UAS technology by threat actors demands innovative Counter-UAS solutions that can adapt swiftly to new tactics and technologies.

BLACKTALON, an advanced Counter-UAS solution from SPX Communication Technologies, addresses these needs with an adaptable and modular approach to critical infrastructure defense. The BLACKTALON Ecosystem is designed to detect, track, and neutralize drones, leveraging the latest advancements in radar, RF technology, and sensor integration to keep potential threats at bay.

Innovation Through Collaboration: The BLACKTALON Ecosystem Advantage
With the BLACKTALON Ecosystem, SPX Communication Technologies provides a highly adaptable Counter-UAS solution. This system combines SPX’s expertise in radio frequency (RF) technology with a multi-sensor, vendor-agnostic platform. By integrating a variety of sensors—including radar, EOIR, RFDF, and jamming components—BLACKTALON offers a comprehensive response to diverse UAS threats.

The open architecture of the BLACKTALON Ecosystem empowers organizations to tailor configurations based on mission-specific needs. For instance, they can integrate advanced optical tracking from OpenWorks Engineering or deploy high-performance 3D radar from Echodyne. By enabling modular updates, the BLACKTALON Ecosystem provides security agencies with the agility to meet evolving Concept of Operations (CONOPS) without being restricted by a single vendor’s technology.

Real-World Success: Trials and Global Deployments
BLACKTALON has proven its value in high-threat areas, including Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa, where Counter-UAS capabilities are vital to mission success. SPX recently conducted trials at the Hans Christian Andersen Airfield in Denmark to enhance range performance across airfields and industrial complexes. These trials showcased BLACKTALON’s effectiveness in creating a dispersed network of assets, achieving scalable and secure coverage for critical installations.

Such real-world testing underscores SPX’s commitment to iterative development, based on customer feedback and operational insights, ensuring that the BLACKTALON Ecosystem remains agile and responsive to the needs of infrastructure protection teams worldwide.

Future Outlook: Counter-UAS Solutions to Meet Evolving Security Needs
As 2025 approaches, SPX Communication Technologies remains committed to advancing Counter-UAS technology and supporting the defense and security sectors. The BLACKTALON Ecosystem will continue to evolve, with expanded partnerships and an enhanced focus on anticipating UAS threats. Through close collaboration with defense procurement teams, SPX aims to deliver the operational flexibility and tactical advantage needed for effective UAS threat management.

The BLACKTALON Ecosystem exemplifies the power of innovation and collaboration in securing critical infrastructure. With its adaptable design, proven real-world performance, and commitment to meeting future challenges, BLACKTALON is set to redefine Counter-UAS solutions for critical infrastructure protection worldwide.

By leveraging the power of innovation and collaboration, SPX Communication Technologies continues to strengthen Counter-UAS solutions that protect critical infrastructure and ensure a secure future.

October is right behind us but we’re still celebrating spooky season here at TCI. Taking you back to our Halloween pumpkin decorating contest. Some fierce competition this year but congratulations to our winners, the warehouse team for their scary pumpkin head TCI employee. A great mix of creepy and creative!

We are delighted to announce that Eric Kaled, President of SPX Communication Technologies and Genfare at SPX Technologies, has been voted Battlespace Businessman of the Year 2024.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Eric on his award which will be presented at the Chepstow Military Raceday on November 6th.

To read more about Eric and his recent nomination for Battlespace Businessman of the Year award, please visit: Battlespace Interview with Eric Kaled, President at SPX Communication Technologies and Genfare – SPX Communication Technologies (tcibr.com)

We can’t believe it’s nearly two weeks since USTTI came to a close! 

We had a fantastic  week learning about  topics such as AI, machine learning, HF in today’s world and spectrum surveyors, and what better way to learn than to get out of the classroom – this year we were fortunate enough to take the group on a Hornblower cruise to check out the San Francisco Bay and its historic landmarks.  A big thank you to Karl the fog for taking the day off and showing us some great views of this wonderful city. 

We would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to all participants and everyone involved in the success of USTTI ’24 – we hope you have learned a lot of practical knowledge to take back to your respective countries! 

Until next year, enjoy the photo collage, everyone!

For further information on our Spectrum Monitoring Systems visit: https://www.tcibr.com/spectrum-monitoring-systems/

By Graeme Forsyth, Counter-UAS Product Manager at SPX Communication Technologies

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are increasingly used in the battlefield on both sides of conflict, especially in regions such as Ukraine. As a result, defense and security teams are gaining greater awareness of the threats and are prioritizing countermeasures to stay one step ahead.

To meet this growing demand for Counter-UAS (C-UAS) capabilities, the number of vendors has dramatically increased in the past two years. From larger system providers to a myriad of subsystem manufacturers offering pieces of the puzzle, customers have more options than ever before. However, the realization that C-UAS transcends hardware and relies on a deeper knowledge and education around threat types, doctrine and available solutions is often missing.

Combining decades of technology innovation, expertise, and deep customer conversations, SPX Communication Technologies – formed of TCI and ECS – has gained a strategic viewpoint: there is no “one size fits all” in today’s volatile C-UAS landscape. Every customer organization is on a different path and has distinct requirements. That’s why SPX has set out to support defense and security teams in meeting their needs in a way that reflects the nuanced reality of their domain, leaving them best placed for the future.

Creating an ecosystem of industry-leading capabilities

To address this, we’ve created a new C-UAS capability, BLACKTALON Ecosystem. Its open-architecture framework combines our operationally-proven BLACKTALON solution and decades of experience with a global network of providers to meet defense and security needs, threats, skill sets, and budgets.

What puts us in the best position to spearhead this? First, our C-UAS equipment has been fielded in multiple NATO nations since 2017, making us one of the first companies to identify a growing UAS threat and its significance. We’ve developed C-UAS solutions that evolved in tandem with the threat in real-time. As specialists in Radio Frequency (RF) defeat and detection technology with decades of experience, we’re uniquely placed to analyze frequencies across the battlefield and gain vast amounts of valuable intelligence to stay abreast of developments.

Finally, our position as a trusted partner to various customers, other technology providers and industry leaders around the globe has put us in a solid position to orchestrate an ecosystem of collaborators and create a compelling vendor-agnostic framework with a very agile support environment in over a hundred countries. 

Making an ecosystem operationally sound
Subsystem providers – like OpenWorks, Echodyne, Chess Dynamics and Blighter – are the bedrock of the BLACKTALON Ecosystem. They are a vital source of innovation and technological advancement that help each customer meet their individual requirements. But in designing the BLACKTALON Ecosystem, we’ve established an open network where no system is above another, and providers can achieve industry exposure and feedback from real-world applications of their technology.

Putting customers at the heart

By offering a configurable framework, defense and security teams can avoid vendor lock-in and gain from the flexibility of adapting their solution to suit their needs at any given time – whether it’s due to the natural evolution of technology, the threats they face or even an increase or decrease in budget. SPX works with customers as early as possible to understand the subtleties of their needs and priorities to refine the right providers and elements as part of their customized BLACKTALON Ecosystem solution.

Maintaining an open and honest dialogue with all customers and ecosystem providers means we can understand details that would otherwise fail to surface from a traditional one-way approach. Furthermore, allowing choice for each element of the C-UAS solution changes the dynamic of these conversations and allows us to be specific about capabilities and their merits.

We look forward to evolving the BLACKTALON Ecosystem even further in the coming months and years to support present and future defense and security teams’ C-UAS needs – all in close collaboration with customers and the industry and naturally supported by our proven technology.

For more information on the BLACKTALON Ecosystem, visit www.tcibr.com/blacktalon-ecosystem, email us at sales@enterprisecontrol.co.uk or visit us from 17-19 September at EW Live in Tartu, Estonia (stand 7).

Having some fun in the sun..!

Nothing but great weather for TCI’s annual summer picnic at California’s Great America! A day full of amusement park rides, good food, and family friendly fun.

Always a great event for our employees to celebrate with fellow coworkers outside the office.

We’re hoping to have another great summer picnic next year, but until then, enjoy the rest of the summer everyone!