OpenWorks has partnered with BAE Systems’ Digital Intelligence team to integrate Vision Flex into its advanced Anti Threat System (BATS), strengthening the system’s ability to detect, track, classify and counter uncrewed threats.
BAE Systems Anti Threat System is a modular, scalable counter-uncrewed threat system (C-UxS) that is built to detect, track, identify and defeat hostile drones. Designed to protect military forces, critical infrastructure and other high-value assets, BATS brings together best-in-class sensors and effectors to deliver a layered response to emerging aerial threats across land, air and sea domains.
The process starts with detection. When a potential threat is identified, sensor data is fed into the command-and-control (C2) system, where operators assess and interrogate the information to establish whether the threat is genuine. Once confirmed, operational teams determine the most appropriate response, selecting from kinetic or non-kinetic effectors to neutralise the threat.
The front line of detection: Vision Flex is part of the system’s Autonomous Sensor Array
Our intelligent, modular optical sensor, Vision Flex, delivers high-performance surveillance, tracking and classification of highly dynamic threats at long range. Operationally proven across a wide range of applications, it provides the precision and situational awareness needed to help operators identify threats and make informed decisions when it matters most.
From concept to field trials in just 8 months
In less than 12 months, the BATS programme has progressed from initial concept to field-based integration and deployment testing, with a major milestone reached in just eight months. In July 2026, trials conducted with MSI-Defence Systems brought the system into a field-based environment, integrating its firing technology to track threats and advance the development of the wider capability.
More recently, BATS completed two weeks of live trials in Scotland, demonstrating the complete sense, decide, effect mission chain against uncrewed aerial threats through a single, integrated command-and-control architecture.
The trials focused on three key scenarios:
- Sense and display: Demonstrating threat detection and situational awareness.
- Sense, decide and soft kill: Demonstrating non-kinetic response capabilities.
- Sense, decide and hard kill: Exercising the end-to-end mission sequence in a more complex operational scenario.
Cited in BAE Systems’ press release, Louise Heywood, Head of Strategy at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence & Land, explained:
“Drones are becoming increasingly capable, accessible and difficult to counter, creating new challenges for armed forces and critical infrastructure operators. These trials demonstrated BATS’ ability to bring together sensing, decision-making and response options within a single system, enabling operators to identify and defeat threats more rapidly and with greater confidence. This is designed to reduce cognitive burden for individual operators by using a single integrated system to identify, confirm and target drones.”
“Throughout the trial, we also explored how BATS could support future networked operations, enabling threat information to be shared securely across multiple locations. This enables operators to build a broader understanding of the airspace, improving coordination and response across distributed sites.”?
By integrating Vision Flex into BATS, OpenWorks is contributing to a connected, multi-layered capability designed to turn sensor data into actionable intelligence, and actionable intelligence into decisive response.