U.S. Air Force to buy Echodyne radars for Italy rescue squadron

The U.S. Air Force is seeking to buy four Echodyne EchoShield counter-drone radars for a rescue squadron based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, according to a solicitation the service’s 31st Contracting Squadron published September 4.

The notice is a request for quotes, not a completed purchase. The Air Force explicitly states in the solicitation that funding for the buy is not yet in place: “Funds are not presently available for this effort. No award will be made under this solicitation until funds are available.” The service also reserves the right to cancel the solicitation at any point without reimbursing companies for their costs.

The requirement comes from the 57th Rescue Squadron, a combat search-and-rescue unit based at Aviano that flies HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters. The Air Force is asking for four EchoShield radar units, one Rapid Deployment Kit that lets operators link up to four radars into a single system, and three years of software updates and technical support for each radar. Companies have until September 11 to submit quotes, and the Air Force plans to award a single fixed-price purchase order without further negotiation.

EchoShield is built by Echodyne, a Kirkland, Washington-based company that makes counter-drone radar using a technology it calls MESA, short for Metamaterials Electronically Steerable Array. The design steers the radar beam electronically rather than relying on a mechanically rotating dish, letting Echodyne pack radar performance once limited to larger, more expensive military systems into a compact unit.

According to the Air Force’s technical requirements, each EchoShield radar must detect small Group 1 drones, such as a DJI Phantom, at 2.7 to 3 kilometers (1.7 to 1.9 miles), and larger Group 2 drones, such as a DJI Matrice 600, at 4.8 to 6 kilometers (3 to 3.7 miles). The radar must also track a dismounted person at 8 kilometers (5 miles) and a vehicle at 11 kilometers (6.8 miles), while tracking more than 40 high-priority targets and over 1,000 lower-priority targets simultaneously. Each radar panel weighs no more than 17.8 kilograms (39.2 pounds) and draws under 250 watts of power at full operation.

The Rapid Deployment Kit the Air Force is requesting is designed to let a single operator assemble up to four radars into one system, without tools, in under an hour. The full kit, including its tripod and cabling, must pack down into no more than three transport cases.

Echodyne’s radar has already been fielded across multiple U.S. and allied programs. The company told The Defence Blog in July that its EchoShield radar serves as the primary sensor on Trust Automation’s SUADS counter-drone platform under a $490 million Air Force contract, and that the U.S. State Department separately awarded Echodyne $14.9 million to supply radars for use in Ukraine. Echodyne-equipped weapon stations have also been tested by soldiers at Fort Hood, where the company says they engaged drone targets in under three seconds. To meet rising demand, Echodyne is building a new $40 million, 86,350-square-foot (8,022-square-meter) manufacturing facility near its Kirkland headquarters, which it says will be capable of producing more than 30,000 radars a year.

The Air Force has not disclosed the total value of the anticipated purchase order or said when funding might become available to allow an award.