Army chief launches Middle East’s first UAS, CUAS, and EW test site in Jordan


AMMAN — Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, on Thursday officially launched East Middle East’s first-ever test site for unmanned aerial systems (UAS), counter unmanned aerial systems (CUAS), and electronic warfare (EW), which was kicked off by Deep Element, in cooperation with the Jordanian Centre for Design and Development (JODDB).

Lauding the site, Huneiti said its inauguration enjoys "remarkable" importance, based on Jordan's "leading and active" role in stabilizing the region and preserving its security, and seeks to upgrade national capabilities at various levels, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

During the drone delivery test, which was carried out by Deep Element, in cooperation with JODDB, a Jordanian-made VTOL drone successfully delivered medical supplies from the test site to a targeted location near Kharrana Castle, southwest of the Azraq Wetlands the first such utilization of a UAS flight in the region, according to a Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) statement.

In addition, the UAS test site was officially inaugurated during a series of successful test flights, which included the Kingdom’s first-ever drone delivery and drone inspection flights, Petra reported.

The launch of the test site signifies a "major" milestone in the Kingdom’s enablement of commercial and government drone operations, supporting the integration of UAS into the national airspace and providing a living lab for the development of future policies, trainings, certifications, and UAS and CUAS validations, the statement said.

The site will deliver a wide range of services and benefits to all UAS companies and partners, assisting them in the development of strategic operations and safety risk management plans, while also allowing them to test new UAS and CUAS technologies.

This site will also allow for the testing of EW technologies to counter non-conformal drones, and will support developers in their research of these technologies under the umbrella of the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF).

The test flights were successfully managed by Altitude Angel’s market-leading Guardian UTM Enterprise system, a world-class UTM (unified traffic management) platform which has been implemented in order to allow the test area to enable safe, integrated flight operations.

Guardian UTM Enterprise provides a ‘single source point-of-truth’ situational awareness and flight authorizations for those managing the test site airspace.

Deep Element is a Jordanian company specialized in designing, developing and integrating comprehensive security solutions in the field of airspace management, surveillance and cybersecurity, and works closely with the Jordanian Armed Forces and other security agencies across the Middle East and Africa.