Roark Aerospace have today announced the commencement of production for their “Canens” C-UAS system.
The Canens system is designed to specifically target and neutralize UAV’s operating on fiber optic communications.
Fiber optic link based UAV’s were first discovered operating in the Ukranian conflict towards the end of 2024. They had previously been deemed impervious to traditional C-UAS solutions such as High Energy Microwaves with tactics reverting back to more archaic methods involving nets and small arms fire.
The Canens system has two operational functions that work in tandem to deliver a direct C-UAS solution for fiber optic link UAV’s.
The first element of the system is the use of Hyper Spectral and IR imaging to detect “in-use” optical cables. The combination of HSI and IR helps differentiate in real-time between cables that are deployed and are cables that are redundant from previous operations. In addition, the use of HSI can also allow operators to determine the likely distance that the UAV has flown at the point of identification, this can provide onward operational solutions for targeting operators.
The second element of the system is the use of a steerable and adjustable electrohydraulic shockwave to massively increase interferometric noise around the fiber optic cable. The increase in interferometric noise disrupts the signal between the UAV and the operator which, in the case of fiber optics, results in the UAV losing power and control, it will simply crash to the ground.
The electrohydraulic shockwave is created by thousands of electrohydraulic transducers that are formed of miniscule, 3D printed titanium microelectrodes embedded in epoxy and set in a basin based design. The shockwave is adjustable and steerable either by a manual operator or by the Plexus automated targetting system built by Roark.
Canens will be available in Q3 of 2025 with pre-orders being taken currently. Canens will initially be available in portable and sentry units as well as vehicle mounted, a hand-held variant is due for release in Q4 2025.
I’m very far from a SME but I don’t think fiber link UAVs in Ukraine as demonstrated are immune to HPM. HPM can couple with the motor windings and wires on the UAS itself and while the fiber link removes a point of attack HPM weapons can disable things like boat motors by targeting the ignition system, so a communication antenna isn’t required for HPM to attack something electrical.
What they HAVE been immune against is traditional EW which has been a big deal alongside the much improved low level performance and video quality.
In any case, get these to Ukraine and see if they work.
>electrohydraulic shockwave
So a sound pulse like a LRAD?
Their website looks like a scam. Lots of AI slop images, crypto jank, a random mention of railguns, etc.
“electrohydraulic shockwave”
WTF?
What the heck is Electro Hydraulic?!
Is it a mechanical wave, or an electro-magnetic?
“interferometric noise disrupts the signal between the UAV and the operator which, in the case of fiber optics, results in the UAV losing power …”
Show me the optical fibre cable that transmits current. Bullshit PR text.
If it was the 1. of April, I would call this ad it a joke.
Just hopped on to point out that everything, EVERYthing on that website is AI generated video, images, and probably text.
Even the “About Us” page and importantly, the entire “Shop” page.
(How many hands do the About Us people have? How many blades does the propeller of the $981.00 Roark Papyrus Maxi have?)
This is 100% an AI-generated scam company.
UPDATE: As of me checking today they’ve scrubbed a lot of the obvious stuff from their site, but The Wayback Machine still remembers:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250421170406/https://roark-aerospace.com/
(ps: donate to The Internet Archive if you can, Reader)
I could not find any physical address for this company. They claim to have a manufacturing facility at Cambridge Science Park in the UK, but the Cambridge Science Park website shows nothing. Monomark House is just a virtual office. They do have a Companies House number, but scammers can get a number without too much trouble. I agree with others, this is an AI scam.