Contractors demonstrate new C-UAS tech for US-Moroccan CBRN training

A Lockheed Martin representative holds a DJI drone that was captured using its Sanctum software at Exercise ‘African Lion 26". (Janes/Meredith Roaten)

A new counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) software was integrated with a Fortem Technologies F700 DroneHunter hexacopter during a US and Moroccan training exercise and demonstration at Exercise ‘African Lion 26' on 5 May.

At a simulated football game at Stade Adrar in Agadir, Morocco, Lockheed Martin contractors equipped the UAS with the company's Sanctum software product. After a fake explosion rocked the stands, a small DJI UAS zipped over the pitch and flew straight into the waiting F700 and its automated net projectile.

The UAS net capture, simulated explosion, and other threats were the culminating event for the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) training during ‘African Lion 26'. In addition to the Royal Armed Forces of Morocco, special forces soldiers from Ghana and Hungary also participated, said US Marine Corps Reserve Chief Warrant Officer Bernice Ballayan, who oversaw the training and demonstration.

Fortem Technologies' system was purchased by the C-UAS Joint Interagency Task Force 401 earlier this year, according to a January 2026 army statement.

The system is authorised to capture drones inside the US, a Fortem Technologies representative told Janes at the demonstration. In February, the US Department of Homeland Security awarded the company a contract ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June.

Lockheed Martin has other systems that are “actively deployed” with customers, Tyler Griffin, Lockheed Martin's C-UAS director, told Janes on 7 May. He declined to say which countries had purchased the systems.

For demonstration purposes, both vendors modified the performance of their technology, the companies told Janes on the sidelines of the demonstration.