Concept model of the Cicada UAV interceptor, seen at the EnforceTac 2025 exhibition. (Janes/Amael Kotlarski)
Diehl Defence presented its Cicada unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) interceptor at the EnforceTac 2025 defence exhibition, held in Nuremberg, Germany, from 24 to 26 February.
Before launch the Cicada stands on its tailfins as a vertical take-off, propeller-driven UAV. It can be launched either directly from the ground or from a box container. The Cicada's fuselage is constructed from composite materials. Propulsion comes from a nose-mounted propeller, driven by an electric motor. Lift is provided by four delta wings in an X-shaped configuration. The wings also act as the control surfaces.
In-flight mid-course updates are provided via a radio datalink to a ground control station (GCS), while terminal guidance is provided by an onboard, gimballed active radar. Two versions of the Cicada are in development: one with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, the other with a net launcher. The latter is designed to be recoverable and reloadable. The Cicada is intended to provide an interception range of 4–4.5 km against targets of a weight class of around 200 kg (roughly equivalent to an Iranian Shahed 131 one-way attack UAV).
The Cicada was displayed alongside the company's Guardion counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) solution, as part of which the Cicada can work as a kinetic or non-kinetic effector. Guardion is a modular system consisting of a variety of sensors (radio frequency and direction-finding, radar, acoustic, and electro-optical), a command-and-control system, and a number of effectors (radio signal jammers, global navigation satellite services [GNSS] jammers, Wi-Fi jammers, and High-Power Electromagnetic [HPEM] jammers) to disrupt and neutralise hostile UAVs. The system is primarily intended to provide protection for fixed sites.
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