US firm Raytheon has signed a strategic partnership deal with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Tawazun Council, its defense and security acquisitions authority, to locally produce the Coyote counter-drone system.
The landmark agreement involves Raytheon Emirates’ technology transfer and collaboration with Emirati defense companies to manufacture the counter-drone system components in the assembly and testing facility at Tawazun Industrial Park.
In this way, the Gulf country will be able to facilitate a faster deployment of the munitions while strengthening its domestic defense industry, defense capabilities, and relationship with the US as a major defense partner in the Middle East.
Coyote Drone Destroyer
Raytheon’s small, expendable, low-cost, and rail-launched Coyote effectors are designed to defeat a wide range of hostile individual drones or swarms of varying sizes, ranges, and altitudes.
Each one is integrated with the company’s Ku-band Radio Frequency Sensor and comes in three variants: kinetic (Block 2), non-kinetic (Block 3), and launched effects, also known as the “Coyote LE SR.”
Capable of precision strikes, the LE SR can also be deployed for electronic warfare, reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, and support beyond-light-of-sight engagements.
The Coyote counter-drone is already in service with the US Army, where the service ordered 600 2c drone interceptors in February 2024 amid attacks against Washington’s forces in the Middle East.