According to a Ministry of Defence case study, Project Halo Shield has moved a passive counter-drone detection system from demonstration into live use at Warminster garrison. The department presents the deployment as a UK first for Army base protection, in response to a threat picture in which drones are becoming smaller, cheaper and harder to spot. The project was initiated and led by the Army's Experimentation and Trials Group, with funding from UK Defence Innovation. For policy readers, the significance is not only the sensor package itself, but the fact that a defence innovation scheme has been used to move a capability from concept to operational deployment in a relatively short timeframe.
The Ministry of Defence says the pace of delivery rested on earlier trial activity rather than a standing start. ETG had already worked with both suppliers through field demonstrations and counter-UAS exercises, including Project Vanaheim and Project Flytrap, where the technologies were exposed to live drone activity. That groundwork matters in procurement terms. It meant the Army was not choosing between unfamiliar concepts, but drawing on systems that had already been tested against defence networks, integration standards and user requirements. In practical terms, that reduced the time needed to move from demonstration to installation.
Early monitoring data provides the clearest indication of how the system performed once installed. In the first 17 days of live monitoring, the Ministry of Defence says the Warminster deployment recorded 29 drone-position alerts, with detections at distances of up to 5 km. The department also states that none of those detections presented a threat to the base. The system was then tested using Army-flown drones intended to expose weaknesses in coverage or identification. That matters because it shifts the discussion from laboratory performance to observed results in a live military setting, giving Army users a basis for judging whether similar systems merit wider adoption across the estate.
One layer of the deployment came from Dedrone, now part of Axon. The company says it protects more than 1,130 sites across 35 countries, including airports and critical national infrastructure. In the Warminster configuration described by the Ministry of Defence, Dedrone's command-and-control software combines multiple sensor feeds into a single operating picture. At the garrison, three radio-frequency sensors are used to triangulate a drone's position across the site, while a fourth sensor is used for recognition and identification of both the aircraft and its controller. In plain terms, radio-frequency detection looks for the signal link between a drone and its operator. Where that link is present, it can help identify both in real time. In the case study, Dedrone's UK defence lead, Nick McRobb, said the project moved from a demonstration in November 2025 to a site reconnaissance in January 2026 and to an operational installation by March 2026.
The second layer came from Quell, a British supplier of passive, AI-enabled surveillance and counter-UAS systems. Its SkySpyke system was deployed to provide hemispheric sky coverage, with automated detection, tracking and identification of airborne objects. According to the Ministry of Defence, the software also filters alerts and provides visual confirmation, which is intended to reduce operator burden. This second layer addresses a recognised limitation of relying on radio-frequency detection alone. Quell told the department that some drone threats are moving away from traditional RF-emitting behaviour, which means a system that observes the aircraft directly may still provide warning where communications signatures are weak or absent. The company links its role at Warminster to earlier UK Defence Innovation funding that supported range improvements, modular hardware redesign and further development of its Deep Truth software platform.
The case study also shows how earlier innovation funding can shape later procurement decisions. Quell said previous support allowed it to apply lessons from the Army Warfighting Experiment and progress into operational testing with Taskforce RAPSTONE on Projects Vanaheim and Flytrap. In effect, the funding was used not just to improve the product, but to build evidence in defence settings that could support subsequent deployment. That is the wider policy point in Halo Shield. UK Defence Innovation is presented here not simply as a grant programme for promising technology, but as a route for reducing adoption risk, validating systems in service-relevant conditions and giving Army decision-makers better evidence before considering a broader roll-out.
Future expansion remains under consideration. The Ministry of Defence says later phases could add radar and acoustic sensors alongside the existing radio-frequency and optical layers, creating a broader detection architecture for other UK garrison sites. In the case study, Col James Howard of ETG said work with UK Defence Innovation and industry on a dual-use capability had improved safety in barracks and supported the Army's wider counter-drone development. For defence planners, the case points towards a layered model rather than a single-sensor answer. Halo Shield suggests the Army is testing whether fused data from different passive systems can provide a more reliable picture of low-level air activity around military sites. The case study closes with an invitation for industry to engage with current UK Defence Innovation opportunities, indicating that the department views this approach as repeatable beyond Warminster.