MARSS has signed a major contract extension with a GCC customer to significantly expand the capability of its existing NiDAR systems.
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Press Release, Abu Dhabi, 26 May 2026: MARSS has signed a major contract extension, valued at over US$115M, with a GCC customer to significantly expand the capability of its existing NiDAR systems. This latest agreement adds a wider air defence and kinetic countermeasure capability to a system that already protects critical infrastructure demonstrating the client’s continued confidence in MARSS’ technology and long-term partnership approach.
Over the past five years, MARSS has served as prime contractor, designing, delivering, and supporting a complete situational awareness system that protects critical infrastructure from asymmetric threats. The installation features comprehensive sensor coverage across all domains (air, land, surface, and sub-surface), integrated with multiple layers of defensive countermeasures.
The existing systems already provide an end-to-end kill chain solution with effector capability, spanning from a few hundred metres to over 10 kilometres. This includes advanced electronic countermeasures, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile systems, and Short-Range Air Defence (SHORAD) cannon systems capable of firing Programmable Air Burst Munition (PABM). Under this latest contract, MARSS will extend the system with additional longer range Air Defence Radars and surface to air missile systems. The expansion will increase coverage and provide comprehensive end-to-end kill chain against asymmetric air threats with earlier detection, verification and extended range defeat options.
The complete defensive architecture is integrated through MARSS’ proprietary AI-driven command and control platform, NiDAR, which delivers a seamless situational awareness picture across all domains and achieves a decision cycle from threat detection to engagement recommendation in a matter of seconds.
“NiDAR detects, classifies and defeats asymmetric threats by incorporating AI to automatically detect and identify the threat, reducing the cognitive burden on operators and reducing the decision cycle between detection and defeat to just a few seconds,” said Rob Balloch, Chief Growth Officer at MARSS. “This enables a truly layered protection strategy that safeguards lives and assets through the intelligent coordination of multiple legacy and next generation defensive capabilities.”
By integrating soft-kill with hard-kill effectors – ranging from long-range 70mm missiles through various cannon calibres to very short-range close-in weapon systems – operators have layered response options that ensure appropriate force selection for each threat scenario.
“The only proven protection against asymmetric threats is a layered approach where the implementation of proven effectors supports the operator decision cycle and enables effective deployment of hard-kill countermeasures,” Balloch continued. “The rapid proliferation of low-cost threats in swarm configurations necessitates this kind of comprehensive defensive strategy.
“Our system ensures that command personnel have all the relevant information in one common operating picture, enabling them to detect, classify and deploy countermeasures against the most imminent threats while efficiently managing their available defensive assets.”
The contract extension reflects the growing recognition among defence and security organisations globally that effective protection against evolving UAS and other asymmetric threats requires more than individual defensive systems – it demands an intelligent, integrated command and control platform capable of coordinating complex, multi-layered responses in real time.
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