In recent years, it seemed that the government’s aversion to private companies in the arms sector had diminished somewhat. An example of this is the WB Group, from which the Ministry of National Defense (MON) purchased, among other things, 100 pieces of Warmate loitering ammunition, although a thousand had been announced, as well as FlyEye reconnaissance drones, and more recently, GLADIUS unmanned search and strike systems.

This is probably because state-owned companies have not been able to start producing drones for years, such as those in the Orlik program, which were supposed to be delivered to the army in 2021. They are still missing, but there is an investigation by the services, which indicates that the reasons for delaying the project include, among others, the lack of supervision over purchases in companies of Polska Gruba Zbrojeniowa (PGZ), mismanagement and nepotism.

The private company Teldat also received orders for comprehensive systems supporting military operations command and communication – the JASMINE combat management teleinformatic system. However, these are still exceptions to the rule. The proverbial flower in a sheepskin coat. Products of private companies, including those that do not work in the armaments sector but have interesting offers for the military, are still better known and valued abroad than in the country.

Although a dozen or so SKYctrl anti-drone systems were purchased from the Gdynia-based company APS (Advanced Protection Systems), this is only a drop in the ocean of needs.

A signal that the Ministry of Defence’s declarations about a greater participation of private companies in purchases for the army and paying more attention not only to the purchase of drones, but also to the implementation of the anti-drone strategy, was certainly the recent demonstration of this type of systems by the Zielona Góra company Hertz New Technologies at the training ground in Zielonka near Warsaw.

Hertz is a company from the anti-drone systems sector, long ignored by the Ministry of National Defense. Drones, before they became a dangerous weapon, were treated like toys. No one even thought about systems to combat them. And not only in our army.

John Hill, the Pentagon official responsible for space and missile defense, said the Americans have taken a bit of a vacation when it comes to the drone threat, which was long downplayed and is only now catching up. William La Plante, the deputy defense secretary, said the United States needs to rapidly develop counterdrone technologies and increase production of such systems.

The US was prompted to adopt such solutions by, among other things, the experience of the war in Ukraine, when several of the 31 Abrams tanks transferred to Ukraine were destroyed by aerial drones. Tanks worth $10 million were destroyed by drones worth no more than a few thousand dollars.

The alarm bell was also raised by the missile attack by the Yemeni Houthi group, which attacked not only merchant ships but even warships, including an American aircraft carrier, in the Black Sea and the Gulf of Aden with simple missiles. The Houthi attacks were successful to the extent that the prices of shipping a container by ship on this route rose by as much as 45% – to $5,000.

It was also realized that it makes no sense to shoot down increasingly smaller and cheaper commercial drones, which can be purchased for a few hundred dollars in stores, with anti-aircraft missiles worth several million dollars, or even those launched from airplanes, which also cost about $100,000.

This is not only uneconomical, but also ineffective. The solution to the problem was always within reach. These are simple and inexpensive anti-drone systems, which are best suited to combating aerial drones and loitering munitions. Hence, these systems are a hit not only on the front in Ukraine, where the Russians use them en masse, and the Ukrainians keep asking for more.

 Hertz began investing in anti-drone solutions almost a decade ago

Hertz is one of those companies that, at a time when most armies and arms manufacturers were sleeping through the drone revolution, took advantage of the emerging niche to accelerate its development.

The company’s history began in 1989, when its founder Zygmunt Rafał Trzaskowski decided that the surest way to build a profitable business start-up was to enter niche, lagging behind on the domestic market, innovative technologies. The company that was established first designed alarms and security systems for military facilities and satellite systems for monitoring vehicles.

A milestone in the company’s development was Poland’s accession to NATO. The company expanded its portfolio at that time, among others, to include modern communication systems sold to the modernized army. In 2003, Hertz supplied the Polish army with portable GPS terminals used during the mission in Iraq.

Hertz is also one of four companies in the world that produce GPS satellite navigation secured with NATO military cryptographic modules. Rosomaks and Turkish TB2 Bayraktar drones are equipped with them.

– Since 1994, I have participated in various NATO committees concerning military navigation systems. Thanks to this, in 2004 we were invited by the US government and the Pentagon to present our Polish military GPS solution – says Zygmunt Trzaskowski, president and founder of Hertz New Technologies.

– His assessment was that we got the wind in our sails, because, in short, Americans saw something they didn’t have, but needed very much. We were then included in close cooperation with US government companies. It turned out that our engineers can surprise. I would like to emphasize their exceptional importance in our projects – emphasizes the president.

Almost a decade ago, Hertz began looking for a new niche by investing in anti-drone solutions. And once again, it hit the nail on the head.

– The first HAWK (Jastrząb) system was created in the company in 2015. At that time, we were producing this system with the intention of protecting critical infrastructure facilities, i.e. airports, refineries, power plants, as well as mass events against incidents involving the use of drones. It also proved effective in the prison system, where the delivery of drugs using drones became a mass phenomenon – Zygmunt Trzaskowski tells the SektorObronny.pl portal.

Over time, the Zielona Góra company has become one of the important players in the arms market in this segment. The war in Ukraine had the greatest impact on this. This can be seen in the financial results. In 2021, the company’s sales amounted to PLN 2.7 million. Two years later, the company had the same EBIDA profit, and revenues exceeded PLN 12.2 million.

HAWK systems are used to protect Naftoport in Gdańsk. The company has also implemented its system at Zielona Góra-Babimost Airport. They are also used by the police. Among others, the Provincial Police Headquarters in Szczecin used them during the final of the “The Tall Ships Races 2017” regatta. In turn, the Provincial Police Headquarters in Gdańsk used them during the final match of the UEFA Europa League played at the Arena Gdańsk stadium in May 2021.

The system detects anything that moves in the air – it can classify it and can neutralize it

The most important test for these systems was the war in Ukraine. The Russian army uses drones on a mass scale, as well as systems to combat them. The result was that Ukraine began to lose up to 10,000 drones per month.

Hertz systems have been implemented into the equipment of Ukrainian soldiers and are used for non-kinetic targeting and neutralization of not only commercial drones, but also advanced military drones, including Iranian Shahed-type kamikaze drones.

More on the advantages of the HAWK system was discussed during the demonstration at the Zielonka training ground by Ryszard Miadziołko, IT architect at Hertz. He emphasized that they are the only company in Poland that has developed and produces a manual neutralization system, or in simple terms, an electronic hand weapon.

– HAWK detects anything moving in the air, can classify it and can neutralize the target during flight. It allows not only to detect a drone, determine its position and flight speed, but also to determine the position of its operator. It is effective as protection against both a single drone and a swarm of them – emphasizes Ryszard Miadziołko.

fot. INFO FOTO FACTORY/Michał Moskalewicz

The heart of the system is the C2 management and control system, which operates on the basis of unique, even on a global scale, software. It is equipped with data fusion algorithms, as well as automatic, intelligent allocation of neutralization resources, which enable reliable classification of a detected drone as an intruder and its immediate neutralization.

What makes this weapon stand out from other anti-drone systems is spoofing, a revolutionary solution that is effective against all unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. Spoofing in this case inserts false satellite information within a radius of 3 km.

HAWK can neutralize targets by jamming the drone’s communication frequency with the operator and forcing it to land or return it to the operator, who loses complete control over it, or by fooling its GNSS navigation system, preventing the drone from positioning, changing the position and altitude information.

The HAWK system operator can neutralize a drone from a distance of up to one and a half kilometers. In the case of a stationary jammer, the range is up to 10 km. The device is characterized by a large neutralization range of up to 1.7 km, a long time of continuous operation – up to 60 minutes – and a low weight of approx. 3.5 kg. It can be in a stationary or mobile version. It can operate in motion, both on land and at sea. In this case, the sensors and neutralizers are permanently installed on a vehicle or a vessel.

– One of the important advantages of these systems is their multi-sensor nature. HAWK has four detection technologies, including one active and three passive, and a multi-level neutralization system consisting of six technologies already implemented. This allows for effective scaling of the system in terms of individual application to a given facility – adds Ryszard Miadziołko.

Combining active and passive technology in drone detection and tracking is key

– We often talk to soldiers from the Ukrainian or Israeli armies. More often than with Polish ones. The regulations in Poland limit our possibilities, but we have a lot of freedom in cooperation with other armies. Israeli soldiers told us that they can expect a missile within five minutes of switching on the radar. That is why they rarely use radars to detect drones on the battlefield – says president Trzaskowski.

Hence the importance of passive detection capabilities that allow you to avoid enemy attacks.

HAWK is also able to operate autonomously, without an operator. When a foreign drone crosses a zone defined by the operator, an alarm system sounds. The system can independently, one by one, turn on various neutralization technologies.

fot. INFO FOTO FACTORY/Michał Moskalewicz

The conclusions drawn from the use of Hertz systems on the Ukrainian frontline were used by the company to further develop and improve its anti-drone weapons. For the armed forces, HAWK also offers the ability to combat drones through directed energy, which effectively disrupts the drone’s electronics, neutralizing the threat. The effective range of the device is 2.5 km. Such systems are much more resistant to enemy jamming.

Another important advantage of the device is the ability to detect drones using stealth technology, i.e. with reduced radar detectability. The system can be integrated with the K1200 cannon with a rate of fire of 50 rounds per second and a range of 1.2 km, which is fully integrated with detection systems, which allows for automatic target combat. This solution is mainly used against drones armed with explosives, such as Shahedy.

One of Hertz’s innovative solutions is the Flying Spider interceptor drone, equipped with two net launchers that allow for effective interception of the target and taking it in a controlled manner outside the protected zone.

– If the intercepted drone weighs no more than 20 kg, our drone will catch it in a net and take it outside the protected zone. If it is heavier, the security system activates a special parachute, which lands on the ground together with the intercepted drone. It can also drop it at any time by detaching the net in which the intercepted drone is entangled – explains President Trzaskowski.

Poland is not prepared for the threats posed by drones. Ukraine shows that any larger equipment, such as air defense systems, but also tanks or howitzers, are basically defenseless against small, low-flying, slow, cheap drones.

This problem concerns not only the army, but also most facilities important from the point of view of the country’s security that are deprived of protection against threats from the air. These are energy facilities, fuel facilities, ports and airports, as well as facilities strategic for the functioning of the state, including military ones. Poland must start preparing seriously to counter drones. The good news is that we have effective solutions – manufactured in Poland – some of the most modern anti-drone systems in the world.

Such solutions include, among others, one of the most modern HAWK anti-drone systems in the world, which already protect critical infrastructure facilities.

– Thanks to constant development and the introduction of new technical and technological solutions, HAWK is becoming one of the most needed systems for combating drones. Our technological potential and experienced engineering staff allow us to declare our readiness to join our systems in the program of reconstruction and modernization of our army – assures Zygmunt Trzaskowski.