Breaking News
Belgium Strengthens Counter-Drone Capabilities With Saab Giraffe 1X Mobile Radar.
Belgium has introduced the Saab Giraffe 1X mobile radar to improve detection of small, low-flying drones following a series of unexplained overflights near military bases and airports. The move closes a critical sensing gap and strengthens protection for sensitive sites in a country central to NATO and EU operations.
On 23 December 2025, Belgium’s Defence Minister Theo Francken presented a new layer of counter-drone protection at the Special Operations Regiment headquarters in Heverlee, where the Belgian Defence Ministry unveiled a Saab Giraffe 1X mobile radar alongside the first Piorun short-range air-defence systems. According to Belgian Defence, the fast-tracked package followed a series of unexplained drone overflights above military installations and airports, exposing gaps in Belgium’s ability to detect and track small low-flying unmanned aircraft. Intended to deliver a clearer local air picture and early warning, the Giraffe 1X is designed to support intervention teams with more precise cueing against suspicious drones, strengthening protection around sensitive sites in a country that hosts NATO and EU institutions and critical logistics nodes.
The Saab Giraffe 1X mobile radar gives Belgium a fast, flexible way to spot and track small low-flying drones, closing a critical surveillance gap exposed by recent unexplained airspace incursions (Picture Source: RTBF / SAAB)
The Giraffe 1X is a compact three-dimensional multi-mission radar designed to combine short-range air surveillance, target acquisition and counter-UAS functions within a single package. Saab describes a system weighing under 150 kilograms, with roughly 100 kilograms topside, allowing integration on light platforms such as pickup-type vehicles, masts or fixed structures. During the Heverlee presentation, Belgian Defence showed the radar installed on the rear of a light 4x4-type vehicle, underlining its role as a fully mobile sensor that can be redeployed quickly between bases or to support deployed units. The electronically scanned antenna refreshes the full 360-degree search volume roughly every second and is optimised to pick up “low, slow, small” targets such as commercial quadcopters, while also tracking conventional air threats and, where required, artillery rockets and mortar rounds. A dedicated Drone Tracker function helps distinguish mini-UAVs from birds and background clutter, keeping false alarms low while extending detection to small drones at several kilometres. In Belgian use, Defence emphasises that the radar’s primary mission is to create a detailed, real-time air picture so that specialised teams equipped with jammers and shotguns can be directed exactly where they are needed.
Operationally, Giraffe 1X builds on several decades of experience accumulated with Saab’s Giraffe radar family, which equips a broad range of land and naval platforms in Europe, North America and Asia. Open sources indicate that the 1X variant is already in service or on order with multiple NATO and partner nations, including Latvia, the United States and Sweden, in roles spanning ground-based air defence, counter-UAS and site protection. Saab emphasises that the radar is fully software-driven, allowing threat libraries and operational modes to be updated over time without hardware changes, an important aspect when adversaries continuously adapt drone tactics, signatures and flight profiles. For Belgium, this means the system bought today can be progressively aligned with NATO standards, integrated into wider command-and-control networks and adapted to new threat profiles, from commercially available quadcopters to more sophisticated military UAVs. During the Heverlee event, Belgian Defence also showcased DroneShield Immediate Response Kits and shotguns with specialised ammunition as effectors, illustrating a layered concept in which Giraffe 1X provides the detection and tracking layer feeding multiple neutralisation options rather than acting as a stand-alone solution.
On the tactical level, bringing a Giraffe 1X radar on a 4x4-type vehicle gives Belgian forces a flexible tool to close the detection gap around sensitive areas and deployed units. Stationary long-range air-surveillance radars are not optimised to pick up low-flying drones close to the ground; a dedicated short-range sensor that can follow troops, convoys or rotating security tasks is better suited to that mission. The one-second refresh rate and three-dimensional tracking allow operators to monitor several drones simultaneously, calculate their flight paths quickly and cue counter-drone effectors with minimal delay. Belgian Defence stresses a layered concept in which Giraffe 1X supplies early warning and tracking, while portable systems such as DroneShield Immediate Response Kits and specially adapted shotguns are used to neutralise the threat if required. The radar’s inherent ability to support counter-rocket, artillery and mortar warning could also become relevant for Belgian units on overseas deployments, adding an extra protective function beyond counter-drone tasks, even if this has not yet been highlighted as an immediate national priority.
Strategically, the purchase of Giraffe 1X radars is one element of a fast-tracked counter-drone package that the Belgian government approved in 2025 after repeated incidents of unidentified drones over airports, military sites and critical infrastructure. According to specialised defence reporting, an undisclosed number of Giraffe 1X systems were ordered under a contract worth around 9.2 million euros, with the radars intended to protect high-value areas such as the Halle-Vilvoorde region around Brussels. In parallel, Belgium signed a 2.8 million euro contract with Australian company DroneShield for portable anti-drone jammers, with the two acquisitions forming part of a roughly 50 million euro “quick-fix” plan to reinforce airport and base protection in the short term. Defence officials have also signalled the intention to build, over the longer term, a more comprehensive national counter-drone architecture with an indicative budget in the order of 500 million euros, though the detailed shape and funding profile of that broader programme still have to be defined. For Belgium and its allies, the introduction of mobile short-range radars such as Giraffe 1X is part of a wider adaptation to hybrid threats, where even small commercial drones can be used to probe defences, collect intelligence or disrupt daily life in the heart of Europe.
By pairing Giraffe 1X mobile radars with portable jammers and kinetic means, Belgium is moving from a largely reactive posture to a more agile and anticipatory form of airspace security around its most sensitive sites. The new radar does more than add a sensor; it creates time and decision space for commanders facing drone incursions that can develop within seconds, and it offers a scalable foundation for future layers of air defence and counter-UAS technologies. In a context where hybrid air threats are likely to remain a persistent feature of the European security landscape, this investment signals that Belgium intends to monitor and protect its low-altitude airspace with tools that match the pace and sophistication of the challenge.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.