Our Products

Bolt and Archer are the counter-UAS system. The seeker that flies on Bolt is also a standalone module, and the carrier without a launch rail is a detection product that needs no weapons authority to operate. Everything below shares one processing backbone, one interface definition, and one supply chain. Detailed specifications are available to program offices and partners under NDA.

01Effectors

Bolt and Archer.

MD-B1 · Effector

Bolt Kinetic Interceptor

A small expendable round that defeats Group 1 drones by direct body impact. It carries no explosive warhead, takes no input after release, and homes on its own dual-mode seeker. Archer closes the distance first, which is what holds the round to a sub-$6,000 unit cost target.

TRL 3 · Modeled
At a glance
  • Group 1 threat class, out to 800 m in the model
  • No explosive warhead. Kinetic effect only
  • Fire-and-forget. No datalink, no midcourse update
  • Dual-mode seeker, thermal and radar, fused on board
  • GPS-denied by design, not as a degraded mode
  • $6,000 or less unit cost target at volume
MD-A1 · Carrier

Archer Carrier

The reusable half of the system. Archer searches with radar, identifies with a gimballed thermal imager, positions to a head on aspect, and releases Bolt. It holds the command and control interface for the engagement, because Bolt takes no input once it is away.

Airframe open
At a glance
  • Radar searches, thermal identifies. Radar covers the volume, the imager makes the call
  • Separate then ignite. Lighting the motor on the rail is not survivable for the carrier
  • Launch tubes outboard of the rotor disc
  • Sits close to what it defends, not far forward of it
  • Magazine is set by endurance, not by how much mass the airframe can lift
  • Holds the command and control interface for the engagement
MD-A2 · Detection Only

Archer Watch

Archer with the launch rail removed. It detects, classifies, and tracks small unmanned aircraft, and it hands the track to whatever command and control system the site already runs. Nothing on it is a weapon, which is what makes it deployable at a commercial port, an airfield, or an offshore platform without a weapons authority conversation.

Concept
At a glance
  • Detection and identification only. No effector, no launch rail, no munition
  • Radar plus thermal, fused on board. Detects in darkness and weather with no illuminator
  • Fixed mast or free flying. Same sensor head, same track output
  • Open track interface. Feeds the command and control system a site already operates
  • Commercial deployable. Ports, terminals, airfields, offshore platforms, and vessels
  • Upgrade path to Archer if a customer later acquires a kinetic layer

Why detection only is a real product and not a downgrade

An operator at a commercial site cannot fire on an aircraft. What they can do is know what is inbound, how fast, and on what bearing, early enough to move people, stop a crane, halt a fueling operation, or call the authority that does have engagement rights. That is the job Archer Watch does, and it is a job the effector version cannot do more of.

02Standalone Sensing

Sensor Modules

We submitted two dual-mode sensor modules to DIU under its counter-UAS sensing work. Module A is the seeker that flies on Bolt. Module B is the same processing backbone scaled up for a platform or ground mount, where mass and power stop being the binding constraint. Both detect by shape and motion rather than by thermal contrast alone, because a small drone runs only slightly above ambient temperature.

Module A · DIU Submission

Bolt Effector Seeker

A strapdown dual-mode seeker package sized to fit inside the round. Thermal supplies angle, radar supplies range and closing velocity, and the two fuse into a single state estimate for the guidance loop. There is no gimbal. The mass budget does not allow one and the guidance law does not need one.

Analysis complete

Thermal channel

An uncooled long-wave infrared imager. It sees in total darkness, through smoke, and in weather with no illuminator and no emission of its own. Export classified under EAR rather than ITAR.

Radar channel

A millimeter wave front end supplying range, closing velocity, and rotor signature for classification. It carries engagement geometries the thermal channel cannot cover alone.

Fusion and guidance

Both channels fuse into one state estimate on board, feeding an autonomous terminal guidance law. Strapdown throughout, with no gimbal and no moving seeker parts.

Module B · DIU Submission

Wide-Area Sensor Payload

The same detection chain and the same fusion, built for a mount rather than a munition. A larger aperture and a larger antenna buy detection range that the nose of a small round cannot physically hold. It runs on a vehicle, a mast, a vessel, or a third-party aircraft, and it publishes tracks over a documented interface.

Concept
Design intent 01

Aperture is what buys range

Against a small distant target, detection range is set largely by how much aperture you can point at it. Bolt trades aperture away because it has to fit inside a round. A mounted payload does not, and the same detection chain reaches considerably further.

Design intent 02

Power stops being the constraint

Inside a small round every watt competes with flight time. On a mast or a vehicle the payload runs from host power with a heat sink behind it, which lifts the ceiling on sensitivity, frame rate, and antenna gain at once.

Design intent 03

One interface, both modules

Cue and handoff, sensor track input, and engagement reporting are documented. A customer integrating Module B onto their own platform gets the same interface the rest of the line uses, which is why an Archer Watch site can later add a kinetic layer without replacing its sensing.

Availability

Both modules are at the analysis and design stage. Neither has been built. Sensor payloads are configurable for integration onto third-party platforms under licensing or CRADA agreement, and interface control documentation is available to a program office or partner on request.

03Line Summary

Product Maturity

ProductRoleEffectorPrimary customerStatus
BoltKinetic interceptorKinetic, no warheadDoDTRL 3
ArcherCarrier, search and launchCarries BoltDoDAirframe open
Archer WatchDetection and identificationNoneCommercial and DoDConcept
Module AInterceptor seekerComponent of BoltDoD, integratorsAnalysis
Module BWide-area sensingNoneCommercial and DoDConcept

No product on this page has been built or tested. Every performance figure is modeled simulation output or a stated design target, and each is labeled where it appears. See maturity and evidence for the element-by-element position.