It has an efficient radar system that uses AI to detect, track and classify low flying drones.

Autonomous objects hovering above cityscapes often delivering goods, monitoring crowds or even making it rain by sending shockwaves across clouds, are set to become a major part of everyday life in urban spaces across the Middle East. Although they are instrumental in defence operations, drones can also pose a grave threat to residents of cities if they are used for hostile attacks in public spaces, as countries in the gulf have witnessed.

Recent years have seen the UAE launch satellites to strengthen border security and assist military operations, while the country also demonstrated its capability to build autonomous drones and armoured vehicles at a defence expo earlier this year. As the Middle East witnesses the rise of combat drone tech and innovative ways to counter UAVs, a defence firm is unveiling its SkyDome to fortify cities in the gulf against unmanned aerial threats, at the Dubai Airshow.

Designed to safeguard venues, campuses and urban spaces, the high-tech solution from Fortem can detect low-flying targets, and defeat them from the farthest possible distance. It has the capability to spot and classify drones even in a cluttered environment above cities, thanks to a TrueView radar, which uses AI on the edge tech to track drones.

Another feature assisting the dome's battle against UAVs is a DroneHunter, that can be sent to a distance three times that of its closest competitor, to follow and drag away drones, that pose a threat. To make sure that hostile devices are identified accurately from a distance, the SkyDome will deploy long-range cameras with 88X zoom, which is a lot more than 30X zoom used by most counter-drone mechanisms.

At a time when governments in the Middle East are working on air traffic control systems for drones, the SkyDome is backed by algorithms and filters, to identify and counter threats with precision. Just weeks back, the region was introduced to a defence solution, which involves UAVs tracking swarms of hostile drones, before blowing themselves up for maximum impact.