Advanced Protection Systems (APS) – a provider of radar and anti-drone systems technology – in 2023 won the award of the President of the Republic of Poland in the International Success category during the 590 Congress in Rzeszów. In 2022, during the XXX MSPO in Kielce, it received the Operational Commander’s award in the category “Survival and protection of troops” for the SKYctrl container anti-unmanned aerial vehicle system. It is important to recall how the Gdynia-based company came to these successes

– We operate in the military and security industry, so by nature we do not try to make what we do public. So far, we have not tried to make ourselves known. Now we want to change it a bit and talk more about it – said Maciej Klemm, PhD, President of APS and its co-founder, during the presentation of the company’s achievements.

– We are sure that what we are doing is important for the state and interesting for the public. On the other hand, as the founders of the company, we are proud of it and we will be more willing to talk about it – emphasizes President Klemm.

The company was founded in 2015 by Maciej Klemm, PhD, and Radosław Piesiewicz, PhD. Both have technical education. They studied together at the Gdańsk University of Technology at the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, in the specialties of microwave and antenna engineering. That’s where they met. After defending their master’s degree, they went abroad.

Maciej Klemm, PhD, defended his doctoral thesis at the prestigious ETH Zurich, whose educational strategy is health and medicine. After his PhD, he continued to work on radar technologies at the University of Bristol for almost 10 years. His research has been applied in medicine. He developed a scanner to detect breast cancer, for which he received a gold medal from the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2007.

Radosław Piesiewicz, PhD, defended his doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Braunschweig, and later took the position of head of the research institute in Trento, Italy, where he dealt with advanced very high frequency electronics.

Both had careers – they could have stayed and worked abroad. However, they decided otherwise. They returned to Polish with their ideas.

– At that time at the academic level we were in touch. We have done advanced technology projects for the space industry. At some point, we came to the conclusion that what we do there can be done in Poland as well. To build modern, most advanced technologies in the country. And that’s how it all started – recalls Radosław Piesiewicz, co-founder of the company, chief operating officer of APS.

Both emphasize that it was an interesting time, because Poland had just joined the European Union. It has also relatively recently become a member of the European Space Agency. The National Centre for Research and Development has directed significant EU funds to research and innovative development of companies.

What counts is the idea and perseverance

The idea that determined the direction of the company’s development was born in 2014 after Radosław Piesiewicz read information about a drone that approached a French nuclear power plant unnoticed.

– He could carry a bomb with impunity and, disturbed by anyone, drop it on a power plant, causing a cataclysm. These are small systems with a small reflecting surface, but radar should be able to detect them. We wrote an application for a grant from the European Commission and obtained the first funds to set up a company and develop radar technologies – reminds President Maciej Klemm.

In 2015, APS was established. They were one of the first to enter the niche of radar systems detecting drones. Years later, it turned out that it was the right move.

– Ten years ago, we foresaw the inevitable, namely the special role of drones, which could pose a threat that was not sufficiently perceived at the time. We have developed anti-drone technology and now have implementations. The war in Ukraine has shown that without anti-drone protection, you lose – emphasizes Radosław Piesiewicz.

fot. INFO FOTO FACTORY/Klaudiusz Kaleta

Technology development received several grants from the National Center for Research and Development, supported by the so-called business angels. An important turning point in the company’s development was the acquisition of a minority stake by the Enterprise Investors fund in 2023. This significantly strengthened the company’s position on the international market in this area. A year later, in the first quarter of 2024, the company entered into an agreement with the Prince Sultan Defence Studies & Research Center (PSDSARC) from Saudi Arabia, an important government institution tasked with strengthening the country’s defense capabilities by providing advanced technologies. Among others, the most important ones today, radar drones, strengthening air defense, ensuring effective combat against air threats, i.e. unmanned aerial vehicles, especially the smallest ones.

– This is a landmark agreement for our company, which after years of research, development and creation of innovative products, will now also be committed to technology transfer. Our cooperation with Saudi Arabia is crucial for us. This is our strategic partner. We are entering a new, higher level of development – assures President Klemm

– We will provide our technological solutions for PSDSARC and work on their continuous improvement, taking into account the specific needs of our partner – he adds.

Continuous development

The Company is constantly developing new technologies. Currently, these are technologically advanced solutions that enable detection, classification and constant observation of many objects at the same time.

– We are investing in the development of new radar systems currently using more than 20 different parameters. We also plan to implement the most advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning techniques, which will further increase the precision of our systems – says CEO Klemm about the innovativeness of the systems produced by the company.

APS has gained recognition in the market with the production of FIELDctrl 3D MIMO radar systems. It is precisely by accurately displaying real-time information such m.in distance, angle and height, that the systems give them a competitive advantage.

They are able to track multiple objects of different classes at the same time and can detect all types of drones – even microdrones at a distance of 6 km, as well as swarms of drones hovering.

They have several radars in their portfolio: Advance, which detects and classifies micro UAV drones at a distance of 3 km, flying even at a height of 1 m, or hovering. Radar Range, which has a detection range of 5 km, and Runway radar, which detects objects at a distance of 8 km.

The latest APS product is the Ultra radar, with high parameters and a range twice as long as the Advance, i.e. 6 km. It is also twice as large and heavier. It weighs 65 kg.

Based on its radars, APS produces entire anti-drone systems. The SKYctrl integrated anti-drone system, several of which were purchased by the Ministry of Defense under a contract concluded with APS in May 2022, are known.

All systems have already been delivered and are one of the elements of the multi-layered air defence currently under construction in the Wisła, Narew and Pilica projects. SKYctrl also protects German Patriots stationed in Poland.

Protection of critical infrastructure

In addition to valuable assets and the military, APS systems protect critical infrastructure facilities, the airspace of power plants, refineries, and telecommunications networks. Over the past 10 years, APS has implemented about 75 anti-drone projects around the world, m.in. in 24 countries in Europe (e.g. Norway, Estonia, Finland, Czech Republic), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and Asia (South Korea, Singapore, India).

SKYctrl anti-drone systems protect key critical infrastructure facilities and large public events such as Aerobaltic and AirShow. They also monitor national borders, where, for example, the smuggling of cigarettes or drugs by drones has long been a widespread practice. Unmanned aerial vehicle identification systems are also used to prevent contraband in a prison in Tallinn or to monitor the movement of birds, drones and the environment at the airport in Stavanger, Norway.

Battle-tested

The MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin system, developed jointly with a British partner, was transferred to Ukraine as part of the £100 million support provided by the UK government, where it is used to protect military and civilian targets. The whole system is managed by the network-centric CyView C2 command system, also developed by the Gdynia-based company, which currently allows four platforms to be combined into one module, which can be managed from any platform by assigning the MASTER or SLAVE functions. This increases the survivability of platforms on the battlefield.

– Our devices already allow for error-free classification of detected objects in real time, even the smallest ones. They can, for example, distinguish a drone from a bird, which gives us a significant advantage over competitive solutions. In addition, the entire technology offered by APS, from designs to manufactured systems, including software and signal processing algorithms, is developed and manufactured by the company in-house – emphasises Maciej Klemm.

The company continues to expand its portfolio, introducing new products, such as portable jammers that can be easily installed on vehicles for jamming radio signals, including drone control signals and satellite navigation signals. The customer network is also expanding. Starting from the army to international institutions.

– This is a new offer, but the growing use of drones in warfare, especially by Russia, shows that there is an urgent and huge demand for this type of technology – emphasizes Radosław Piesiewicz.

Out of about 170 people employed in the company, more than a hundred are a group of scientists, engineers and programmers, as well as technological and military experts. APS also cooperates with many sub-suppliers from Poland, mainly from the Tri-City, as well as foreign partners.

– We have plans to grow the company until 2030, but our ambitions go much further. We will deepen our international expansion with an emphasis on supplying anti-drone systems to the armed forces of NATO countries – says Klemm.

And these are not wishful declarations. The company’s revenues in 2023, compared to 2021, increased dozens of times. The company’s revenues in 2024 are planned to be twice as high. They sell half of their products abroad. The demand for these devices, due to the war in Ukraine and the constantly appearing new hot spots, is constantly growing.