Industry Night on Day 1 of the Combat Air Forces Weapons and Tactics Conference in Las Vegas felt like an EW tradecraft checkpoint. Terma’s booth was compact but message-driven: integrate faster, make expendables smarter, and close the sensor-to-effector loop for both traditional aircraft survivability and the fast-moving counter-UAS problem set.

What Terma showed and said

Terma centered its display on its ALQ-213 family and associated dispenser technologies, and on two themes that matter for contested airspace operations: modular integration and payload agnosticism. Their literature and reps emphasized ALQ-213-style EW management as the central controller to fuse warning sensors, jammers or pods, DIRCMs and countermeasure dispensers, with a plug-and-play mindset for mixed fleets and rapid fielding. The company also highlighted the Smart Agile Secure Countermeasure Dispenser System or SAS CMDS as the evolution of their dispenser line.

SAS CMDS in practice

SAS CMDS was a recurring talking point. Operationally, the capability that matters is not only carriage and release of flares and chaff but in-flight programming, mixed payloads and inventory awareness. SAS CMDS implements the SSCI style functions that let a controller select threat-specific dispense sequences and support smart expendables and multi-shot cartridges. For operators in a dense threat environment the benefit is clear: dynamic dispenser behavior and accurate inventory bookkeeping reduce human workload and let the EW controller run optimized responses at machine speed. The background literature on DAS controllers and SSCI standards helps explain why Terma is pushing that feature set.

MASE / podded self-protection: speed and reversibility

Terma reiterated the case for podded DAS — Modular Aircraft Survivability Equipment (MASE) — as a fast way to give non‑dedicated platforms meaningful self-protection without deep structural modification. Pods packaged with forward/aft missile warning sensors, dispensers and processor/controller modules remain attractive for reserve, rotocraft and transport assets operating in contested corridors because they reduce SWaP integration timelines and permit rapid redeployment between airframes. That modularity matters operationally when threat environments change between missions or theaters.

Counter-UAS and sensor fusion: OSL and SCANTER leverage

On the drone side, the clear headline was Terma’s late-2025 acquisition of OSL Technology. The OSL stack brings multi-sensor C‑UAS capabilities, an operational command-and-control layer, and edge AI classification tools that complement Terma’s radar and EW portfolio. Put simply, Terma is packaging detection/classification (radar, RF, EO/IR fusion and AI) with defensive effects management and legacy self-protection. That was visible in the messaging and in demo material describing a single operational picture across sea, air and land.

Terma’s SCANTER lineage was also evident in discussions about UAS detection. Their coastal and short-range radars have been adapted to small-target detection and classification roles; combining a SCANTER-class radar with OSL’s FACE-style C2 and Terma’s controller logic creates a layered option that can go from detection to engagement decision far faster than siloed systems. For contested airspace where rapid identification of small UAS is required, that fusion path reduces false positives and speeds ROE-compliant responses.

Tactical implications — what this means for operators

1) Integration trumps point solutions. The recurring operational complaint from warfighters is not lack of jammers or dispensers but the time and risk of integrating them into a coherent defensive aids suite. ALQ-213-style controllers plus a standards-based dispenser sequencer lower that barrier and shorten fielding time.

2) Smart expendables are mission enablers. SAS CMDS-style in-flight programmable dispensers shift expendables from blunt tools to programmable effects. Against modern seekers and mixed threats this matters more than bigger magazines.

3) C-UAS must be sensor-first. Your options against small UAS are constrained by the quality and latency of detection and classification. Terma’s acquisition of OSL signals an industry view: you cannot reliably engage what you cannot classify. Fusion of radar, RF fingerprinting and EO/IR with an automated decision layer reduces bad engagements.

4) Test against realistic swarms and EMI. Terma’s pod and controller demonstrations are useful, but the operational payoff depends on rigorous live testing against representative UAS tactics, electronic attack, and degraded GNSS environments. Integration is only as good as your mission engineering and TTPs.

Bottom line and recommended next steps for units

Terma used Day 1 to position itself as a systems integrator that can bridge classic aircraft survivability and the rising C‑UAS requirement. The combination of ALQ-213 controller logic, SAS CMDS smart dispensers, SCANTER-based detection, and OSL’s C2/AI package is a logical product roadmap for contested airspace — it addresses sensor fusion, automatic defeat sequencing and rapid retrofit. For units evaluating options: insist on demonstration of end-to-end timelines (detect to engage), demand SSCI/SSCI-style interoperability proofs, and include human-in-the-loop decision latency tests in contested RF conditions.

Day 1 made one thing clear: the vendor conversation has shifted from single-effect boxes to orchestration. That is the operational ceiling you must aim for if you intend to operate inside contested corridors and counter agile UAS threats.