HitchHiker interceptor drone: first IronNet and Asterion product already in service in Ukraine

The US companies IronNet and Asterion announced their partnership only recently at the Bahrain International Airshow. Now the first product of the cooperation is already in service in Ukraine: the HitchHiker interceptor drone.

The HitchHiker drone is designed as an extremely fast, electrically powered multi-role interceptor. It reaches up to 450 km/h, climbs at 50 metres per second and has a range of up to 195 kilometres. It is launched automatically from fixed or mobile sites and can also engage drone swarms.

How Perimaster guides the interceptor drone

IronNet, a provider of AI-based cyber defence solutions, contributes its IronDome real-time cyber threat detection to the partnership. To analyse patterns and anomalies in available data sources, IronDome draws on artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced sensor networks.

Asterion contributes the Perimaster control system, which fuses data from long-range sensors, as well as the HitchHiker drone itself. Perimaster flies the drone automatically and brings it directly behind suspicious targets, which it visually verifies and neutralises – or it returns to base. A protected data link between HitchHiker and Perimaster enables communication with air traffic control, and an ADS-B function is also available.

A jet version of the HitchHiker is also in development. It is intended to intercept fast, jet-powered drones as well.