Moroccan startup unveils prototye UAV that operates without GPS signal

A prototype of the Matador unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Moroccan Ballistic Defense System. (Photo courtesy of Ballistic Defense System)

BEIRUT — Moroccan startup Ballistic Defense System has developed a prototype of its unmanned aerial vehicle, dubbed Matador, that can operate without GPS, instead relying on cameras and algorithms to reach its targets.

“Where we are really adding value is in the algorithmic and in the software layer,” Fahd Laamoumi, cofounder and managing director of Ballistic Defense System, told Breaking Defense on Tuesday. “The hardware is very cheap but we have multiple agents, like visual inertial odometry, which is one of the agents. Then we have a map matching agent, which compares what the drone sees with a preloaded map. It uses as well the IMU [Inertial Measurement Unit].”

The artificial intelligence agents work together with a “super agent” called the Kalman filter, which “weighs in all those options” and ultimately makes the decisions, Laamouomi explained.

Matador is a one-way attack drone, and its announcement comes as the Middle East and North Africa are embroiled in regional conflicts. Within those conflicts, UAVs that rely on GPS have been subject to signal jamming and spoofing. By not relying on GPS, Matador is less likely to run into those problems.

Started in December 2023, Ballistic Defense System developed the Matador prototype within 18 months and with a $1.15 million investment from its founders.

With the growing number of UAVs entering the market, Laamoumi shared two advantages of Matador: sovereignty and precision.

“Sovereignty is a big advantage. Second the drone is very precise [due to] algorithm in terms of navigation without GPS,” he said, adding that the drone is a “smart robot that can fly at very low altitudes.”

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The prototype now under testing has a four-meter wingspan, with a 250 km (155.3 miles) range but the company aims to use a larger airframe in the future to accommodate a range of 2,000 km.

“What we want to do in the next phase is to do our own airframe, to design our own aerodynamics to make it like a small plane. It’s not complicated. It’s like it’s like basic engineering, [but] we need an air base because we need a runway, a landing runway for doing the kind of tests,” he said.

Ballistic Defense System has yet to sign any contracts, but Laamoumi told Breaking Defense the company is in discussions with the Moroccan army to perform demonstrations for prospective procurement deals in the future. Further, he added that the company has received requests for demonstrations by two Gulf nations, though he declined to name them.

“Now I started the process with two other GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries, and it’s going super fast,” he said, noting that the requests are not only for procurement but also for “full transfer of technology and production and transfer of the team over there.”

Ballistic Defense System is planning to show off the prototype of Matador at the Marrakech Air Show taking place next week, Laamoumi said.

这是摩洛哥弹道防御系统公司研制的“斗牛士”（Matador）无人机原型机。（图片由弹道防御系统公司提供）

贝鲁特——摩洛哥初创公司弹道防御系统公司开发了一款名为“斗牛士”（Matador）的无人机原型，该无人机无需GPS即可运行，而是依靠摄像头和算法来到达目标。

“我们真正的价值体现在算法和软件层面，”弹道防御系统公司联合创始人兼总经理法赫德·拉穆米周二告诉《防务新闻》。“硬件非常便宜，但我们拥有多种智能体，例如视觉惯性里程计，这只是其中之一。此外，我们还有一个地图匹配智能体，它会将无人机看到的景象与预加载的地图进行比较。它也使用了惯性测量单元（IMU）。”

拉穆奥米解释说，人工智能代理与一个名为卡尔曼滤波器的“超级代理”协同工作，该超级代理“权衡所有这些选项”，并最终做出决定。

“斗牛士”（Matador）是一款单向攻击无人机，它的发布正值中东和北非地区冲突不断之际。在这些冲突中，依赖GPS的无人机经常遭受信号干扰和欺骗。“斗牛士”由于不依赖GPS，因此不太可能遇到这些问题。

Ballistic Defense System 于 2023 年 12 月成立，在创始人投入 115 万美元后，于 18 个月内开发出了 Matador 原型。

随着越来越多的无人机进入市场，拉穆米分享了斗牛士无人机的两大优势：自主性和精准性。

“主权是一项巨大的优势。其次，由于采用了无需GPS的导航算法，这架无人机的定位非常精准，”他说道，并补充说，这架无人机是一款“智能机器人，可以在极低的高度飞行”。

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目前正在测试的原型机翼展为 4 米，航程为 250 公里（155.3 英里），但该公司计划未来使用更大的机身，以实现 2000 公里的航程。

“我们下一阶段的目标是自主研发机身，设计空气动力学方案，使其成为一架小型飞机。这并不复杂，就像基础工程一样，但我们需要一个空军基地，因为我们需要一条跑道，一条用于进行各种测试的着陆跑道，”他说道。

弹道防御系统公司尚未签署任何合同，但拉穆米告诉《防务新闻》，该公司正在与摩洛哥军方洽谈，计划未来进行演示，以期达成采购协议。此外，他还补充说，该公司已收到两个海湾国家的演示邀请，但他拒绝透露这两个国家的名称。

“现在我已经开始与另外两个海湾合作委员会（GCC）国家推进这项工作，进展非常迅速，”他说道，并指出这些请求不仅涉及采购，还包括“技术和生产的全面转让以及团队的转移”。

拉穆米表示，弹道防御系统计划在下周举行的马拉喀什航展上展示“斗牛士”原型机。