U.S. Will-Burt Reveals Mobile Masts for Counter-UAS Sensors and Jammers in Drone Defense.

Will-Burt showcased its Quadpod field mast, Stiletto AL HD telescoping mast, and integration services at Eurosatory 2026 in Paris, highlighting the support layer that gives counter-UAS, surveillance, and communications systems a clearer operational reach. By elevating radars, electro-optical sensors, RF detectors, jammers, and command links above terrain and clutter, the U.S. company is addressing a core battlefield need for mobile forces facing drones and dispersed threats.

The Quadpod can raise a 160 kg payload to 3 meters, giving counter-drone teams a rapidly deployable platform for sensors and electronic-attack equipment, according to Will-Burt CEO, President, and Chairman Richard Lewin during the June 15–19 exhibition at Paris Nord Villepinte. Its value lies in helping mobile units move, stabilize, and reposition critical detection and defeat systems without relying on fixed infrastructure.

Related topic: Franco-British CTAS 40mm Unmanned Turret Brings Counter-Drone Firepower to Armored Vehicles.

Will-Burt presents its Quadpod and Stiletto AL HS last systems at Eurosatory 2026, offering mobile elevated support for counter-UAS sensors, surveillance payloads, communications equipment, and electronic-warfare systems (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).

The Quadpod is a field-deployed mast rather than a vehicle-bound tower. Lewin stated that it is raised pneumatically by hand pump or compressor, with each mast section locked as it extends, and that its main design distinction is stability without the need for guy wires. The 3-meter height may appear modest compared with larger trailer towers, but it is operationally useful for short-range counter-UAS work because many drone-detection packages suffer less from vehicle masking, ground clutter, personnel movement, and low vegetation when lifted even a few meters above the ground. A simple line-of-sight calculation illustrates the point: against a small drone flying at roughly 10 meters altitude, raising a sensor from 1 meter to 3 meters increases the geometric horizon by about 2.6 km, before accounting for radar sensitivity, drone radar cross-section, foliage, urban masking, or weather. That is not a guaranteed detection gain, but it is enough to add seconds or minutes to the engagement cycle in a short-range drone attack.

The technical “armament” question should be understood in that context. The mast itself does not carry a gun, interceptor or missile; it carries the equipment that allows a counter-UAS detachment to detect, classify, track and, when fitted, jam or cue a separate defeat system. A 160 kg payload margin is relevant because a realistic counter-drone set is often not a single camera. It can include a compact surveillance radar, a pan-tilt electro-optical/infrared sensor, RF detection antennas, directional electronic-warfare antennas, datalink hardware, and power or signal-conditioning equipment. Mounted at ground level, those devices may be blocked by armored vehicles, barriers, trees, earthworks, or buildings. Elevated on a stable mast, they can maintain cleaner fields of regard, reduce false tracks caused by nearby objects, and give operators a more reliable picture of low-altitude air activity around a convoy halt, logistics point, artillery position, or temporary command post.

The operational value of the Quadpod is therefore strongest at the edge of the defended area. A forward security element could deploy it near a tactical operations center, ammunition resupply point, or short-range air defense firing position, then remove it quickly when the site moves. The absence of guy wires is not only a convenience. It reduces the area needed for deployment, lowers the risk of vehicle or personnel interference around the mast, and shortens the time during which the unit is static. In an environment where hostile reconnaissance drones can identify signatures and pass coordinates to artillery, that reduction in setup and recovery time has tactical value. The limitation is also clear: a 3-meter mast is not intended to replace taller semi-fixed towers. It is a mobility and local-coverage tool, most useful when the counter-UAS equipment must move with the unit rather than defend a permanent installation.

Will-Burt’s Stiletto AL HD addresses a different requirement: heavier payloads and greater elevation for mounted surveillance, radar and communications missions. In the video, Lewin identified the Stiletto AL HD as a fourth-generation product line available from 4 to 15 meters and able to carry up to 272 kg. The company’s published literature lists 4, 6, 8.54, 10 and 12-meter variants, each with a 600 lb, or 272 kg, payload capacity, six mast sections, 28 VDC input power and a maximum running current of 40 amps. It also lists approximate powered extension times of less than 45 seconds for the 4-meter version, less than 65 seconds for the 6-meter version, less than 90 seconds for the 8.54-meter version, less than 105 seconds for the 10-meter version, and less than 130 seconds for the 12-meter version.

Those figures are important because heavier counter-UAS and surveillance payloads impose mechanical loads that affect sensor performance. Will-Burt states that the Stiletto AL HD uses a multi-spindle design and internal keying to minimize mast twist, with a listed rotation accuracy of ±0.7 degrees. For a radar or electro-optical sensor, twist is not a cosmetic issue; it affects pointing repeatability, track continuity, and the quality of target handoff to an operator or command-and-control node. At 12 meters, the Stiletto AL HD’s listed survival wind speed is 62 mph, while the 4-meter version is listed at 130 mph, with deployment wind speed listed at 40 mph across the published variants. These numbers show the trade-off that planners must consider: greater height improves line of sight, but wind loading and payload sail area become more restrictive as mast height increases.

The Stiletto AL HD also reflects a maintenance and reliability approach suited to mobile military use. The design includes automatic locking at any height, direct-drive power without belts or chains, internal collars with dust and ice scrapers, full tube seals to reduce water intrusion, a digitally controlled brushless DC motor, and a design aligned with MIL-STD-810H. These features do not make the mast a survivability system in the armored sense, but they matter for readiness. Counter-UAS crews may operate in dust, rain, snow, and vibration-heavy vehicle environments, and a mast failure can remove radar coverage, communications relay capacity, or electronic-warfare reach from the defended site. For this reason, the mast should be assessed as part of the mission chain rather than as a support accessory. It is one of the components that determines whether the sensor and effector package can remain available long enough to matter.

Will-Burt Integration is the industrial element behind that mission chain. The company has long mounted masts on trailers, vehicles and shelters, but Lewin said the new division at Vero Beach, Florida, is intended to provide more dedicated integration work for lattice towers and mast options fitted to trailers, vehicles and shelters. Will-Burt’s acquisition of Aluma Tower increased its capability in mobile telescoping tower-trailer systems, and the Vero Beach site is listed by the company as the location of Integrated Tower Systems and Aluma Tower. For defense users, that integration work is often as important as mast selection: the vehicle or trailer must provide power, stabilization, cable management, environmental protection, operator access, transportability, and compatibility with radios, radars, or electronic-warfare equipment.

For armed forces building mobile counter-UAS units, the main conclusion is that mast choice affects detection geometry, deployment time, crew workload, and the probability of maintaining track quality on small aerial targets. The Quadpod fits short-duration local defense where crews need a manually or compressor-raised mast for payloads up to 160 kg. The Stiletto AL HD fits heavier-mounted packages requiring higher elevation, repeatable pointing, and integration with vehicles, trailers, or shelters. In both cases, the military effect depends on the sensor and effector installed on the mast, but the mast determines whether that equipment can see, communicate, and operate from a tactically useful position. Defeating low-cost drones is not only a matter of buying interceptors or jammers, but of building a stable, mobile, and networked detection-to-defeat architecture.

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