Unclassified // Public Release · Capability outcomes only · Public figures cited to public sources
Mission domain · Counter-UAS (C-UAS)

Detect, identify, decide, defeat. One operator.

Counter-UAS is the detection, identification, tracking, and defeat of drones. DaggerOS does all four on one air picture — fusing radio-frequency, radar, electro-optical/infrared and acoustic sensing into a single track, classifying the threat, and presenting defeat options ranked by the picture. The choice, and the trigger, stay with the operator.

Request a Demonstration →The cost problem
Air-gapped C-UAS
DaggerOS air-gapped counter-UAS at the edge · demonstration reel
The C-UAS loop

One air picture, from first detection to a decision.

Most counter-drone failures are not defeat failures — they are detection and decision failures: the track arrives late, on the wrong screen, or not at all. DaggerOS closes the loop on one picture.

Detect

Many sensors, one track.

Independent, passive-by-default sources — RF, radar, EO/IR, acoustic — fuse into a single tracked air picture. One sensor gives a bearing; many give a fix.

PASSIVE-DEFAULT

Classify & decide

Reduce the false engagement call.

Contacts are classified to cut false alarms, and defeat options are ranked against the live picture and the rules of engagement — with the evidence shown.

PROPOSE-ONLY

Defeat

Soft-kill or hard-kill — your call.

The operator authorizes. Whether the effect is non-kinetic or a kinetic intercept, it commits only through a sustained human hold at one gate — and is sealed to the record.

HUMAN-GATED
Reference

The FAA/DoD UAS groups.

The DoD classifies unmanned aircraft into five groups by weight, altitude and speed. "Small UAS" — the drones most counter-UAS systems are built to counter — are Groups 1 and 2, and sometimes the lower end of Group 3.

DoD UAS groups (approximate thresholds)
GroupMax takeoff weightTypical profile
Group 1< 20 lbSmall quadcopters and hobby-class drones — low and slow.
Group 221–55 lbLarger small-UAS; longer endurance.
Group 3< 1,320 lbTactical UAS; medium altitude and speed.
Group 4> 1,320 lbLarger UAS operating at higher altitude.
Group 5> 1,320 lbLargest UAS; high altitude, long endurance.
The cost problem

The drone is cheap. The usual answer is not.

The defining counter-UAS problem is cost asymmetry: a cheap drone, answered with an expensive shot. Fix the detection and decision layer, and the operator spends the costly effect only when it is warranted.

#1
Counter-drone named CENTCOM's top priority — Gen. Kurilla, SASC, June 2025
$25Kvs
A ~$25K interceptor used against a ~$50K–$100K adversary drone (Kurilla testimony)
~80:1
Shahed-class drone (~$20K–$50K) vs a Patriot PAC-3 round (~$4M) — CSIS / CRS
~88%
Reported Ukrainian intercept rate against one-way attack drones — RUSI

Figures are directional and attributed to their public sources (SASC testimony; CSIS; CRS; RUSI). BlackByrne does not publish DaggerOS performance envelopes. The point is the economics of the decision layer, not a claim about any specific engagement.

Why the picture matters

A gap in the picture is the failure.

The January 2024 Tower 22 attack in Jordan, which killed three U.S. soldiers, is widely cited as a case where a small drone reached its target through a sensing gap. The lesson is not more sensors — it is one picture that no single operator has to stitch together under pressure.

DaggerOS holds that one picture air-gapped at the edge, passive by default, so the drone is seen, classified and held on a track before anyone has to decide — and the decision, when it comes, is a human's, on a record that holds.

Read: the cost asymmetry of counter-UAS →
Where it fits
  • Fixed-site defense of a base, border or critical infrastructure.
  • On-the-move force protection at a disconnected, contested edge.
  • Event and installation airspace security for federal and SLTT agencies.
  • As an open (MOSA) component inside a prime integrator's architecture.

Aligned to Replicator 2's focus on countering small UAS.

Straight answers

Counter-UAS — common questions.

What is counter-UAS (C-UAS)?
Counter-UAS (C-UAS) is the detection, identification, tracking, and defeat of unmanned aircraft systems — drones. A complete capability closes the loop from first detection to a decision: it senses the drone across multiple phenomenologies, classifies whether it is a threat, and provides a defeat option. DaggerOS does all of this on one operator picture, and commits every effect through a single human gate.
What are the FAA/DoD UAS groups?
The DoD classifies unmanned aircraft into five groups by weight, altitude, and speed. Group 1 is under 20 lb, Group 2 is 21–55 lb, Group 3 is under 1,320 lb, and Groups 4 and 5 are larger. Small UAS — the drones most counter-UAS systems are built to counter — are Groups 1 and 2, and sometimes the lower end of Group 3.
Why is the cost asymmetry of counter-UAS a problem?
Small drones are cheap and defenders have often answered them with expensive interceptors. In June 2025 testimony, CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Kurilla called counter-drone his number one priority and cited a roughly $25,000 interceptor used against a $50,000–$100,000 adversary drone. Analysts contrast a Shahed-class drone (~$20K–$50K) with a Patriot PAC-3 round (~$4M). DaggerOS attacks the problem by fusing cheap, passive sensing into one picture so the operator spends the expensive shot only when it is warranted.
What is soft-kill vs hard-kill counter-drone?
Soft-kill defeats a drone non-kinetically; hard-kill physically destroys or intercepts it. DaggerOS treats both the same at the decision point: it presents the option, and the effect commits only through a sustained human authorization at one gate.
How does DaggerOS detect drones?
It fuses independent, passive-by-default detection sources — RF, radar, EO/IR, and acoustic — into a single tracked air picture, rather than leaving an operator to stitch separate alerts together. Fusing phenomenologies collapses a bearing into a fix and reduces false engagement calls. The technique details are export-controlled and not published.
All ten mission domains →How DaggerOS works

See it hold the air picture.

Bring your airspace problem. We'll show you one operator holding it.

Request a Demonstration →Ops@blackbyrne.com