MARSS Interceptor: the designer behind the drone hunter built for modern warfare

Recently, AeroTime spoke with the creative force behind the MARSS Interceptor drone hunter, a weapon built for the times and shaped by the military conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Stephen Scott, the Managing Director of MARSS Defense Labs, has extensive knowledge of weaponry, having begun his career at Matra BAE Dynamics Aerospace (MBDA) after graduating with a Physics degree. Scott spent 16 years at MBDA, including six as the Head of Future Battlefield Capability, during which he liaised closely with the British Army, working towards their next set of weapon systems.  In his time there, Scott was involved with the development of everything from infantry weaponry to long-range systems, including designing missiles. While MARSS originally began within the yacht and superyacht industry, over the course of its 19-year history the company has rapidly developed and evolved into a security and defense solutions company with its AI-powered platform, NiDAR Core, at the center.  MARSS Scott explained that, when he joined MARSS in 2020, they began looking at how the company could diversify its product offer, especially the counter unmanned aircraft system (UAS) space. Scott came up with the idea for the Interceptor, a “cost-effective hard-kill solution against drones at ranges up to 5km”. “If you look at everything we do in terms of the hardware we integrate, there’s a lot of good hardware out there in terms of radars, cameras, jammers, and then there’s the more expensive countermeasures, like missile systems and cannons. MARSS was never going to develop that, right? Our core business is software, so it had to be something that felt like a natural progression for the business,” he explained. The Interceptor-MR (Medium-Range) has recently successfully completed flight testing of its latest aircraft design, and the drone is currently being considered by NATO country members.  ‘Cost-effective hard-kill solution’“I’ve basically designed an electric missile without a rocket motor – it’s got four propellers instead. It operates pretty much the same as a missile,” said Scott. Unlike conventional kinetic options, the system uses no explosives or fuel, making it safer to deploy in both military and civil environments. The Interceptor will travel towards its target at around 80 meters per second (288 kph) and collide into the enemy weapon in order to destroy it.  The AI-enabled fully autonomous Interceptor-MR is housed in a vertical smart launcher connected to the NiDAR sensor infrastructure. When a threat is detected and the counter weapon is deployed, it receives regular updates on the target position until it’s within visual range of the infrared camera.  MARSSOnce within range – which varies depending on the target size – it switches to onboard closed loop guidance. The drone operator does not require special training, and the entire operation can be viewed and controlled by the MARSS C2 (Command and Control) system, NiDAR Command. “The operator supervises engagement and can abort at any time. If you choose to abort, the Interceptor can just return home. So, compared to a missile, there’s a lot of benefits there,” Scott added. He highlighted that the Interceptor-MR is a fraction of the cost of a VSHORAD (Very Short-Range Air Defense missile system), but “with a very similar end result”. To destroy the target, the eight-kilogram Interceptor must build kinetic energy and requires a huge amount of power provided by extremely high-power density batteries, first to vertically takeoff and then to transition for flight.  MARSS“Of course, we’re also doing a head on engagement with the target, so you’ve got the target’s kinetic energy as well. It’s an additional effect that guarantees that we’ve got our kill,” said Scott. The Interceptor has primarily been designed to take out Shahed drones (or that class of target), in a one-way mission.  However, with smaller drones such as a quadcopter, MARSS expects the Interceptor to have a degree of survivability for being deployed again later. This can be achieved either by the Interceptor returning to base for recharging, or alternatively a parachute can be deployed so that it may be recovered without the drone incurring any further damage. All parts of the drone that make impact with the target are made from titanium, which includes the nose and leading edges.  Designed to destroy Shahed dronesBased on the Interceptor’s speed, Scott expects most missions to be completed within five minutes. While not commenting specifically on the cost of the Interceptor, Scott expects the price per unit to come in at under $50,000, which is significantly lower than a short-range missile. “Ideally, we want to try and push to get a price point that’s below the price of the threat system that you’re facing. That’s very difficult to achieve against all threats, but that’s certainly our goal,” he explained.  According to Scott, countries are being forced to reevaluate how they will face future threats due to the shift in effective weaponry, particularly in Ukraine. “All of our interest comes not from countries who are in conflict right now, but from countries who are seeing what’s happening around the world, in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and they’re worried that it’s either going to happen domestically or they’re going to have to face that threat in the very near future. That’s driving a huge amount of interest,” Scott said.  MARSS believes that the Interceptor will be most likely to be used as a point defense system to protect either critical national infrastructure or military facilities.  However, the Interceptor was designed for dual use, so as well as military/government centers, the system can also be deployed to protect infrastructures such as power stations or oil refineries. MARSSAccording to Scott, the idea to build the Interceptor was formed over three years ago, and it has been in development since, with plans to move into production in 2026. Currently, MARSS builds two or three Interceptors at a time for testing which can result in the loss of aircraft. “Sometimes we lose aircraft, which is just part of development. We’ve very much adopted a design, build, test, fail system, which is becoming a classic innovation model. Build it, fail, learn from it, and iterate it. Initially that was all focused on the hardware side, and then in the past year or so, we focused on the software side,” Scott said. MARSS will look to manufacture the Interceptor in the United Kingdom to serve European customers, but plans to expand outwards if there is interest from the Middle East, North America and other regions. The Interceptor is self-funded by MARSS, so the company does not need to rely on money from government agencies, which Scott notes has allowed the company to move fast. ‘What we have is probably that first mover advantage’“We could retain all the intellectual property, and we could deliver something that addressed the requirements of multiple customers, not just a single customer in a single funding body,” he explained.  Despite MARSS’s move into the defense drone world, Scott said that, at its core, the business is still a software technology company and the Interceptor is an “extension of that capability”. “What we’re doing is offering our customers a capability that they can’t get from anywhere else. We integrate third-party systems. There are lots of good radars and cameras. We’re not going to reinvent those things or invest any of our funding into developing something that there’s already very good options for,” he said.  According to Scott, when MARSS first launched the concept, it was quite a unique idea, although now there are many homemade first-person-view (FPV) interceptors in Eastern Europe. “The idea is proliferating, and we expect to see a lot more on the market. What we have is probably that first mover advantage, as well as all the intelligence and image processing we’ve developed over years and years to help improve performance,” Scott said. He added: “Technically, it’s very easy to build an FPV drone that you could fire into another drone, and that’s what we’re seeing in Eastern Europe. However, what we need to do, to be able to sell to government entities or defense agencies, is for it to be certified and qualified. It needs to have a certain amount of liability. We need to have all the quality control in the manufacturing process. It’s another level in terms of the stuff you tend to see on social media.” AeroTime spoke with Stephen Scott at DSEI UK in London.

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