Side-by-side
Falcon Shield vs FAAD C2 (Forward Area Air Defense Command & Control)
Spec comparison for two products on Aviation Souk. Both compete in Counter-UAS & Base Air Defence.
Counter-UAS & Base Air Defence
Falcon Shield
by Leonardo S.p.A.
Leonardo's modular counter-UAS system that detects, tracks, identifies and defeats Class 1 drone threats at ranges up to 5 km across fixed, relocatable and mobile installations.
Counter-UAS & Base Air Defence
FAAD C2 (Forward Area Air Defense Command & Control)
by Northrop Grumman
The U.S. Army's programme-of-record SHORAD command-and-control software — fusing sensors, effectors, and real-time fire control onto a single screen for short-range air defence, C-RAM, and C-UAS on one architecture.
| Cost of ownership | Falcon Shield | FAAD C2 (Forward Area Air Defense Command & Control) |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | — | — |
| Lead time (weeks) | ?–? | ?–? |
| Delivery | — | — |
| Install | — | — |
| GCC airports deployed | 0 | 0 |
| Certifications | 0 | 0 |
Specs
Technical specifications.
| Spec | Falcon Shield | FAAD C2 (Forward Area Air Defense Command & Control) |
|---|---|---|
| Radar detection range (Class 1 UAS) | 5.0 km | — |
| ESM detection range (Class 1 UAS) | 1.5–4.0 km | — |
| EO identification range (Class 1 UAS) | 4.0 km | — |
| Guardian-EA RF jamming coverage | 400 MHz – 6 GHz | — |
| ESM frequency coverage (Metis Skyperion) | 30 MHz – 8 GHz | — |
| Radar coverage | 360° continuous or sector | — |
| EO payload | NERIO-ULR gyro-stabilised, thermal + visible + eyesafe laser rangefinder | — |
| Target class | Class 1 UAS (low, slow, small) | — |
| Deployment configurations | Fixed, relocatable, mobile (MSV), man-portable | — |
| C2 interfaces | IP, ASTERIX, SAPIENT, Data Link 16 | — |
| Operational modes | Silent (passive sensors only) and Active (all sensors) | — |
| Defeat modes | Soft-kill (directional RF jamming, GNSS denial, video datalink disruption); optional hard-kill (laser, kinetic) | — |
| Programme of record | — | U.S. Army SHORAD C2 since 1986 |
| DoD C-UAS C2 designation | — | U.S. Secretary of Defense-designated C-UAS C2 system of record |
| Missions on one platform | — | SHORAD + C-RAM + C-UAS simultaneously |
| Operator interface | — | Single integrated air picture (SIAP); tablet-deployable |
| Architecture | — | Open, vendor-agnostic, non-proprietary |
| Sensor integrations (examples) | — | AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel, AN/TPQ-53, M-ACE |
| Effector integrations (examples) | — | Avenger, Patriot, Stinger, Fortem interceptors |
| Interoperability standards | — | JADC2 messaging; NATO air-defence architecture compatible |
| C-UAS operational experience | — | >8 years deployed |
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