DESTROY THE KILL CHAIN.
At the human, not the hardware.
Real-time RF targeting from any UAV.
RF Direction Finding
Passive sensor across a tunable 5–6 GHz window. No emissions. Detects drone-control links and active jammers in cluttered environments.
Operator-Level Targeting
Direction-of-arrival pushed to autopilot over MAVLink. Pilot sees a live bearing cue plus signal strength. Detection and targeting collapse into one motion.
Platform-Agnostic Integration
UART · MAVLink · ArduPilot. Group 1–3 UAV host or fiber-optic-tethered platform for RF-denied environments. ~200 g · <6 W.
Compact, UAV-integrated, passive.
Helicon's RF direction-finding payload integrates over UART/MAVLink with the autopilot stack of standard Group 1–3 UAVs. Passive front-end, on-board DSP, real-time bearing to source. The aircraft stays silent in the RF spectrum — there is nothing to triangulate against.
- Frequency
- 5–6 GHz tunable; roadmap to 1.5 / 2.4 GHz with sponsor co-development
- Targets
- Drone-control + active jammer emitters
- Mass / Power
- ~200 g · <6 W
- Interface
- UART · MAVLink / ArduPilot
- Sensor
- Passive — no emissions
- Host platforms
- Group 1–3 UAV · fiber-optic-tethered host
Vehicle-organic. Maneuver-organic. UAV-organic.
Designed to live where the maneuver unit lives. Standard Group 1–3 host overhead. Fiber-optic-tethered host for RF-denied environments. Vehicle-mast deployments where the airframe is the persistent layer above the ground vehicle.
Pictured: U.S. Marine Corps Radio Recon Operators Course, Twentynine Palms · April 2026 · LCpl. Theresa Lizarde, USMC.
For acquisition program offices, primes, and qualified partners.
Engagement
Near-term (FY26): Seeking USMC / Army test partnership for UAV-integrated and vehicle-organic RF targeting evaluation, co-funded at sponsor facility.
Structural (FY27): SBIR Phase II / TACFI sponsor for full integration into US UAV stacks. Path to lower bands (1.5, 2.4 GHz).
Compliance & control
ITAR-aware. Active US contract vehicle today via sister company MacroVation, LLC (CAGE 9N2D7) for near-term engagement. Helicon Defense SAM.gov / CAGE registration in progress for direct standing. Both entities under common parent NuvoNexus, LLC. DoD acquisition framework aligned.
Public-facing material only. Operational specifics and detection-range data are reserved for cleared discussion under appropriate authority.
Built by operators who’ve done it before.
Helicon Defense is led by David W. Sherrer II, founder and CEO. David is a deep-tech operator with two prior defense-electronics exits: NuvoTronics (founder & CEO, 2008–2018, acquired by Cubic Corporation) and Haleos (acquired by Rohm & Haas, 2002). He holds 125+ issued U.S. patents across RF, microwave packaging, and advanced materials. He also serves as CEO of MacroVation, LLC, the SBIR-funded sister company providing the active U.S. contract vehicle for Helicon’s near-term engagement.
Helicon’s technical team brings deep RF systems engineering, autopilot integration experience, and operational test backgrounds. Detailed team backgrounds and capability provenance are available under non-disclosure to qualified U.S. government and prime-contractor partners.
Schedule a technical discussion.
Government program offices, primes, and qualified partners — reach out directly.
[email protected]+1 321 350 6886