Which brings us to Robin Radar Systems, a Dutch company that initially used radar to detect birds. (Indeed, the name “Robin” is an acronym derived from “Radar OBservation of Bird INtensity.”) This radar technology, good at detecting small flying objects and differentiating them from fauna, has proven useful in Ukraine’s drone war. Last year, the Dutch Ministry of Defence bought 51 mobile Robin Radar IRIS units that could be mounted on vehicles and used by drone defense teams.
Now, using data collected from the real-world, battlefield-tested deployment, Robin has more than doubled the range at which these IRIS radars can detect drones. The original mobile radars sent to Ukraine had a “long-range mode” of 3 miles (5 km), but the new software patch extends this out to 7.5 miles (12 km). The extra distance is critical when trying to hit a drone moving above you at over 110 mph (180 km/hour).
The increased range requires nothing more than a software update, showcasing the growing military use of cheap, agile, software-upgradeable systems in addition to the larger, more expensive hardware still coming from traditional defense contractors.
Kristian Brost, the general manager of Robin Radar’s US branch, stressed the speed that code-only upgrades to military gear can provide. “By delivering this leap forward entirely through software,” he said, “we’re showing how the decisive edge in counter-drone defence is no longer just built—it’s coded.”
Ukraine has made no secret of the next software-defined leap that it hopes will help it win the drone war: AI-powered drones not subject to electronic warfare disruptions. Some Ukrainian units have already used early versions of these weapons, which can loiter for hours and make autonomous attack decisions after being trained on enough imagery of troops and vehicles.
