The U.S. Marine Corps’ Program Executive Officer Land Systems tested the capability of a low-rate initial production model of an air defense integrated system against unmanned aerial threats during a live-fire test held in December at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
The Marine Air Defense Integrated System, also known as MADIS, is a short-range, surface-to-air platform designed to help low altitude air defense battalions deter and counter fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems, USMC said Wednesday.
MADIS can be mounted on joint light tactical vehicles and comes with surface-to-air missiles, radar systems, command-and-control elements and other disparate systems.
“MADIS can complete the entire kill chain, and we witness that during this event,” said Col. Andrew Konicki, program manager for Ground Based Air Defense.
“It is a linchpin for mission success and our ability to neutralize airborne threats…which in turn, increases our lethality,” added Konicki.
During the test, MADIS detected, identified, tracked and hit several drones and other unmanned aerial targets using a 30mm cannon and Stinger missiles.
The 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion will be the first MADIS recipient within the Marine Corps.