Frankenburg Technologies has been working since 2024 on a solution to address the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles that have come to dominate the battlefields.
The firm’s Chief Executive, Kusti Salm, emphasises that to be effective, any solution must not only engage and destroy targets but also consider “the economics of air defence.” This means it must be producible in large quantities at an affordable price! The company’s Mark I close-range counter-drone missile development, aimed at achieving these objectives, took a significant step forward with the March 2026 announcement that it and Poland’s PGZ (Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa) have signed a long-term agreement for cooperative development and production. The goal, according to Salm, is to reach an initial production rate of one hundred missiles per day, totalling 10,000 annually.
The Mark I advanced from concept to initial prototype testing in just 13 months. To date, over 50 test firings of the missile have been conducted. The missile itself is a solid-fuelled, high-speed system featuring a 0.5kg high explosive proximity fuzzed warhead. It is a “fire-and-forget” missile with an initial electro-optic seeker. It will detonate within two metres of its target, dispersing a glass fragment cloud capable of neutralising up to Group 3 drones. The 60mm-diameter missile measures 660mm in length, has an effective range of 2,000 metres, and can reach an altitude of 1,500 metres.
The Mark I benchmark reliably destroys Shahed-type attack drones and Orlan, Zala, and Supercam reconnaissance drones, while also being capable of countering FPV (first-person view) and loitering munitions.
The Mark I can be ground-mounted on a tripod, a vehicle, or a vessel. It can therefore be used for fixed-site defence or on a mobile platform providing CUAS coverage for ground manoeuvre forces or ship defence. Development of a longer-range Mark II, with a 5 to 8-kilometre range, and the possibility of an air-to-air variant are also under consideration. The modular design of the missile and the extensive use of commercial components both enable capability upgrades and significantly reduce the per-unit cost. In fact, Salm suggests the Mark I should be priced at one-tenth of the cost of comparable missiles.
Frankenburg Technologies, based in Estonia, is pursuing collaborations with multiple international companies and potential production in several countries. These include Latvia, Germany, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and others. The British defence company Babcock International announced its plans to co-develop a containerised missile launch system for the Mark I, intended for defending ships and coastal sites against low-cost, one-way attack drones. The Mark I could be an ideal candidate for inclusion in the proposed critical national infrastructure (CNI) project along NATO’s eastern flank. CNI will require thousands of CUAS systems to protect each site from a single large-scale attack. Mark I and its successors aim to provide a cost-effective solution in the required quantities, while also offering a tactical battlefield system. The company anticipates its first production Mark I units will be available in 2026.
by Stephen W. Miller
