The increasing use of drones for both civilian and military applications has raised substantial safety and security concerns, including risks of misuse in restricted airspaces and on the battlefield. Loitering kamikaze drones, in particular, repre- sent a significant threat, necessitating effective countermeasures. This paper proposes an onboard interception guidance algorithm designed to detect, track, and intercept such drones, relying on data from a camera and simulated radar input. The system is initiated using the target’s initial location provided by ground- based sensors, while the onboard system processes camera data and simulated radar-derived distance values. The key challenge is ensuring successful interception within the limited operational range of these sensors. Several detection algorithms are im- plemented and compared, and the chosen detection method is integrated with the OpenCV CSRT tracker. A linear Kalman filter is employed to estimate the target’s position and velocity, effectively handling intermittent missed detections. The proposed solution is evaluated by intercepting a simulated target UAV with a real interceptor drone in TU Delft Cyberzoo, feeding targets position and velocity to the interceptor, alongside validating the detection and tracking algorithms.

Training in realistic conditions is crucial for fighter pilots. During this training, a red air team is used to represent adversary threats. Currently, the red air team is made up of friendly aircraft that mimic the tactics of the expected adversaries. However, this method has its limitations, such as that these friendly aircraft do not correctly mimic the performance and detectable emissions of the real adversary aircraft. Furthermore, using real combat aircraft has other downsides. They require active fighters and pilots that require expensive training, and using real aircraft means that these expensive combat aircraft need to spend a lot of their service life filling the role of red air instead of flying real missions. As red air flying hours are not considered to be useful training for the pilots flying them, there is no need for using combat-ready aircraft that can carry real armament, nor for a pilot in the cockpit. Using real combat aircraft has other extensive costs attached to it and is unsustainable looking at its real intended purpose. Just to have a real combat aircraft in the red air fleet requires acquisition of the aircraft, taking it away from active service that it was designed for. It needs a (ground)crew to operate it. It also needs lots of maintenance, requiring mechanics, engineers, tools, hardware, and much more. All of this and the combat aircraft is not used for its designed capabilities in flag missions when it is part of the red team. Therefore, there is a desire for a UAV that can match the performance of the real adversaries, is less expensive to operate, and is more sustainable than the current alternatives to fill the role of red air...