NiDAR
MARSS command-and-control software at the core of Kuwait's £370m national counter-drone network.
MARSS will build Kuwait's £370m national defence against drones and other airborne threats around its NiDAR software, Britain's Defence Ministry said on 9 October 2026; owner EOS calls the contract conditional.
Last refreshed: 26 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can one British software layer tie Kuwait's radars, jammers and interceptors together?
Timeline for NiDAR
Selected to link jammers, radars and interceptors
Drones: Industry & Defence: Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait buy drone defencesBackground
Kuwait's £370m purchase from MARSS, part of Australia's Electro Optic Systems (EOS), puts NiDAR at the centre of a national shield against drones and other airborne threats; the UK Defence Ministry announced the sale on 9 October 2026. Through NiDAR, MARSS will join jammers, radars and interceptors, with production in Bristol and 100 new jobs. EOS says the contract is conditional: work cannot start until several conditions are met, with no guarantee if or when that will happen.
NiDAR is MARSS's command-and-control software for counter-drone defence. It takes feeds from radar, electro-optical and sonar sensors made by other firms, fuses them into one picture and assigns soft-kill jammers or hard-kill interceptors. MARSS is the developer; in Kuwait it acts as prime contractor and integrator, and the operator is Kuwait's government.
Kuwait's choice contrasts with Qatar and Jordan, which bought the US Army's single-vendor LIDS in the same week. It is a bet that an integrator mixing several makers' sensors and weapons beats one supplier's closed system.
What is MARSS NiDAR?
What counter-drone system did Kuwait buy?
Has Kuwait's MARSS counter-drone contract started?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 26 October 2026. Editorial standards.