Australia Adapts South Korea Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle for Passive Counter-Drone Warning.

Hanwha Defence Australia and Visionary Machines are assessing the integration of the Pandion Sentinel passive sensing system on the AS21 Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle to improve drone detection, tracking and battlefield awareness. The development could give Australian armored formations an additional layer of protection against unmanned aerial threats operating close to land forces.

The joint development brings Visionary Machines’ counter-drone sensing technology onto the Redback as both companies examine how passive detection can be incorporated directly into a frontline infantry fighting vehicle. The work is intended to improve warning time, force protection and situational awareness for armored units facing increasingly persistent drone activity in contested land environments.

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Hanwha Defence Australia is using its AS21 Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle to assess the integration of Visionary Machines’ Pandion Sentinel passive counter-drone sensing technology.  (Picture source: Hanwha Defence Australia)

The activity comes as small drones increasingly support reconnaissance, artillery adjustment and direct attack against armored units. Integrating a dedicated sensor directly on an infantry fighting vehicle could shorten the time between detection and response while allowing crews to operate with less dependence on higher-level air surveillance assets. The current effort is centered on detection and tracking rather than a complete counter-UAS engagement chain.

In a media release published on September 30, 2026, Visionary Machines said it and Hanwha Defence Australia had entered a new phase of joint development focused on the Redback and Pandion Sentinel. The work follows a memorandum of understanding signed by Visionary Machines, Hanwha Defence Australia and Hanwha Systems at the Avalon International Airshow in March 2025. The companies are now assessing how passive sensing can contribute to force protection and situational awareness on land combat vehicles.

Pandion Sentinel is based on passive optical sensing rather than an emitting radar. Visionary Machines describes the system as a multispectral array combining RGB, near-infrared, shortwave infrared and longwave infrared sensors. It is designed to detect, track and classify multiple unmanned aircraft while calculating their location, direction and velocity without transmitting radar or radio-frequency energy that could reveal the sensor’s position.

The company states that Pandion Sentinel can operate against Group 1 through Group 3 unmanned aircraft and provides more than one kilometer of critical-range coverage against Group 1 drones, with power consumption below 250 watts. It can be fitted to vehicles, deployed from a tripod or installed in semi-permanent positions. The architecture is also intended to exchange data with third-party command-and-control systems and separate counter-drone effectors.

This passive approach is relevant against small drones that present limited radar cross-sections or operate without a continuous radio-frequency control link. Optical performance nevertheless remains dependent on factors such as target size, weather, terrain, visibility and background clutter. A low-flying drone approaching through vegetation, buildings or broken terrain may still be difficult to detect until it enters the sensor’s direct line of sight.

The AS21 Redback provides a heavily protected vehicle base for the assessment. The Australian configuration is armed with a Mk44S Bushmaster II 30 mm cannon chambered for 30 x 173 mm ammunition and capable of firing programmable and proximity-fuzed rounds. It also integrates Spike LR2 anti-tank guided missiles and the Iron Fist active protection system. Hanwha uses composite rubber tracks on the vehicle to reduce vibration and acoustic output compared with conventional steel tracks.

For mechanized formations, the main operational effect would be to move drone detection closer to the vehicles exposed to surveillance and attack. A Redback equipped with a passive sensor could potentially detect and maintain tracks on nearby unmanned aircraft while remaining electronically quiet, then transmit that information to another vehicle, command post, jammer or kinetic counter-UAS system if suitable network interfaces are available. This could be particularly useful against reconnaissance drones operating ahead of artillery or loitering munitions.

The present configuration should not be regarded as a complete counter-drone system. Neither company has announced a dedicated jammer, interceptor or drone-specific weapon as part of the current integration effort, and Pandion Sentinel itself is primarily a sensing component. The development phase will therefore need to determine how detected targets are passed into wider command-and-control networks and which effectors, if any, would be linked to the vehicle.

The work takes place alongside Australia’s LAND 400 Phase 3 program, under which Hanwha Defence Australia is contracted to deliver 129 Redback IFVs. The vehicles are being manufactured in Australia at the Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Victoria, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2027 and conclude in 2028. This means any successful sensor integration would be assessed against a vehicle already entering production for the Australian Army rather than a separate demonstrator fleet.

Visionary Machines and Hanwha Defence Australia are also due to participate in the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition in Perth from October 6 to 8, 2026. The event comes only days after the companies disclosed the new development phase and provides a venue for further details on the integration work.

For Australia, the immediate issue is technical rather than conceptual. The Army has already committed to 129 Redbacks, and Pandion Sentinel provides a locally developed passive sensor that can now be tested against that vehicle architecture. What remains to be demonstrated is whether the system can deliver reliable detection from a moving armored vehicle, how its tracks are integrated into existing networks, and whether those tracks can be transferred quickly enough to counter-UAS effectors to influence an engagement.

Written By Erwan Halna du Fretay - Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Erwan Halna du Fretay holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and has experience studying conflicts and global arms transfers. His research interests include security and strategic studies, particularly the dynamics of the defense industry, the evolution of military technologies, and the strategic transformation of armed forces.