Israel’s Smart Shooter exports drone-killing weapon station to Asia

Israeli company Smart Shooter has delivered the first batch of its SMASH Hopper MG remote weapon stations to an unnamed integrator in Asia, which is building them into a defense system for an Asian military to shoot down drones and engage ground targets, the company said on social media.

Smart Shooter did not identify the country, the armed force or the integrator, and it did not say how many systems were in the first batch, what the contract is worth or when further deliveries will follow. As part of the project, the company also helped the customer set up local installation and maintenance capability.

The SMASH Hopper is a lightweight remotely operated weapon station that lets a soldier aim and fire from behind cover or from inside a vehicle, and the MG designation refers to the version configured for a machine gun. It uses Smart Shooter’s SMASH fire control technology, which tracks a moving target and releases the shot only when the computer calculates a hit, an approach the company built for hitting small drones that are hard to engage with ordinary iron sights or optics.

Earlier SMASH Hopper versions carried an assault rifle, including the configuration inside the company’s SMASH DOME portable counter-drone system, which pairs the weapon station with radar and optical sensors.

SMASH HOPPER Light Remotely Controlled Weapon Station integrated onto a reconnaissance vehicle

Israel Defense Forces units have used the SMASH Hopper for several years, Smart Shooter said in June, when Israel’s Defense Ministry placed a new order worth up to $2.5 million with delivery by the end of 2026. That followed a separate ministry contract in May for SMASH Hopper systems, spare parts and services, which Israeli media linked to the drone threat on the country’s northern border.

Most of Smart Shooter’s sales come from its rifle-mounted SMASH 2000L and SMASH 3000 fire control sights, which are used by U.S. forces, and in September the U.S. Army included the company’s U.S. subsidiary in a group of 10 counter-drone suppliers sharing $4.15 billion in contracts, with Smart Shooter receiving $150 million. The company says the SMASH family is also used in Britain, Germany and other NATO countries.

Smart Shooter described the Asian integrator’s system as a layered defense against threats in the air and on the ground, but it did not say which other sensors or weapons the system includes or when the armed force expects to put it into service.