Drone Labs, creator of the industry-leading Drone Detector®, has announced that it has signed a three-year distribution contract with Marubeni Information Systems, one of Japan’s oldest and most innovative electronic firms. In addition, Marubeni purchased an undisclosed number of Drone Detectors. Marubeni, with nearly 1,000 employees, has been in the IT industry for 50 years and is known for what it calls, “a long-nurtured ability to discover new technologies, products and solutions.” It continues this tradition by entering the nascent industry of intrusive drone detection as it partners with Drone Labs.
Last April, a man flew a commercially available drone and landed it on the Prime Minister’s home in downtown Tokyo. Attached to the drone was a small plastic bottle of sand from Fukushima Prefecture, home to the meltdown-ridden No. 1 nuclear plant. In addition to the trace amounts of radioactive materials, police reported that the drone was equipped with a camera, two flares, and a brown container of a liquid that turned out to contain a small amount of caesium. This intrusion raised concerns in Japan, and worldwide, about the real possibility of drones being used for terrorism. When the operator was arrested and told police the drone had been atop the building for nearly two weeks, the critical need for a reliable detection system became quite apparent.
Had Drone Detector been in place, the drone would have been spotted immediately, even though it had been painted black in an attempt to hide its presence. “We’re pleased that Marubeni recognized our technological superiority when its officials saw the Drone Detector in action, seeing out 500 meters in downtown Tokyo,” said Zain Naboulsi, CEO and co-founder of Drone Labs. “With our layered approach of audio and radio frequency, we can easily outperform our competitors.” The company has previously detected drones at one-kilometer in its testing. Drone Detector will soon start to incorporate electronic warfare techniques into a countermeasure system, which is currently being tested in partner countries.
