Kuwait signs £370 million deal for MARSS's AI-enabled counter-drone network

TLDR

• Kuwait has signed a £370 million deal for a nationwide counter-drone network built around MARSS's NiDAR AI command platform, the UK Ministry of Defence announced October 9.¹
• MARSS, a UK-based subsidiary of Australia's Electro Optic Systems, will act as prime contractor, integrating third-party radars, sensors and interceptors through 2027.¹²
• The deal creates 100 new UK jobs, with production based in Bristol.¹
• It is part of the UK's Taskforce Sabre initiative to help Gulf states rapidly acquire counter-drone systems following Iran's missile and drone attacks in the region.¹

Kuwait has signed a £370 million contract for a nationwide counter-unmanned aerial vehicle network built around MARSS's NiDAR artificial intelligence command-and-control platform, the UK Ministry of Defence announced October 9.¹ MARSS Systems Limited, a UK-based company owned by Australia's Electro Optic Systems, will serve as prime contractor and systems integrator, combining third-party radar, electro-optical and sonar sensors with its NiDAR C2 centers, plus an initial supply of hard-kill interceptors and soft-kill jammers.² The announcements from the UK MoD and EOS did not name the specific sensor or effector models or quantities involved.²

MARSS chief executive Johannes Pinl said the company would integrate the sensors and effectors through 2027 to protect Kuwait's population, critical infrastructure and national assets.¹ EOS, which will integrate the system, described the agreement as its largest contract to date, though it said conditions remain outstanding before work can begin.² The deal expands MARSS's UK footprint, with production based in Bristol and 100 new engineering and manufacturing jobs created there.¹

The contract runs through the UK's Taskforce Sabre, a government-industry effort to help Gulf allies rapidly secure counter-drone systems and weapons, which the MoD said follows Iran's missile and drone attacks in the region.¹ Kuwait has already received the UK's Rapid Sentry ground-based air defence missile system, and the RAF's ORCUS system is operating in the country to help personnel detect drones early.¹

Why it matters: the deal is another sign Gulf states are moving quickly to build layered counter-drone defenses after Iran's regional strikes, and it is a significant win for MARSS's NiDAR platform, which now has to prove it can integrate a nationwide sensor-and-effector network on a tight 2027 timeline before the "conditional" parts of the contract convert to firm work.