U.S. Army orders $99 million worth of drone-detecting gadgets

The U.S. Army signed a deal worth up to $99 million for a small handheld gadget that can detect drones and other radio signals on the battlefield.

The device is called MOTH, short for a spectrum analyzer, and it’s made by a California company called Heaviside Industries. The Army’s contract runs through 2031, according to a Department of War announcement, and covers buying, fielding, upgrading and maintaining the devices over that period.

Heaviside Industries is based in Marina del Rey, California. The company won the contract after the Army opened bidding online and got 99 companies competing for it.

So what does MOTH actually do? Think of it as a pocket-sized radio detector for soldiers. It picks up signals anywhere between 5 MHz and 6 GHz, a wide enough range to catch most drone control links, walkie-talkies and other communications gear. It weighs less than a pound with the battery in, about the size of a large smartphone, and soldiers can wear it on a vest or carry it in a pack.

The device tells a soldier not just that a signal is present, but roughly which direction it’s coming from, using a built-in direction-finding feature. It also has GPS, a small screen, and vibrates to alert the user when it picks something up. It’s built to survive rain, dust and rough handling, rated to work anywhere from 14 to 131 degrees Fahrenheit.

A single MOTH unit runs about $4,950 through retailer Lumenier, which is inexpensive by military technology standards. That low price matters because it means the Army can hand these out widely instead of reserving expensive detection gear for specialists.

According to the trade outlet Soldier Systems Daily, MOTH is meant mainly for soldiers trained in electronic warfare, but it’s simple enough that almost anyone in a unit could use it to spot a nearby drone or radio signal without needing special training.