- International families
- 6422015 to 2024
- Leading country
- United States1.2× the next
- All families
- 2,187home filings included
- Over five years
- Steady2020 to 2024 against the five before
Year by year
Patent families by country of origin and the year of the earliest filing, 2000 to 2025; 2025 is a part year, still filling in. International families are those for which protection was sought beyond one country.
Volume
International patent families in the capability, by the year of the earliest filing.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Share by country
Each country's share of the year's international families, in per cent: the capability's five largest countries of origin, 2015 to 2024, and the rest of the world.
Source: Global Institute for National Capability (GINC), 2026. Underlying patents from 107 patent offices, IFI CLAIMS and Google
Country leaderboard
International patent families, 2015 to 2024, by country of origin. Growth compares the latest five full years with the five before.
Ten largest
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
Japan
Israel
Sweden
France
China
South Korea
Russia
156
135
72
56
50
25
24
23
17
14
| 2000 to 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 156 | 24.3% | 0.9× | 376 | |
| 2 | Germany | 135 | 21.0% | 0.9× | 189 | |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 72 | 11.2% | 0.9× | 95 | |
| 4 | Japan | 56 | 8.7% | 1.3× | 110 | |
| 5 | Israel | 50 | 7.8% | 1.8× | 61 | |
| 6 | Sweden | 25 | 3.9% | 0.6× | 25 | |
| 7 | France | 24 | 3.7% | 2.0× | 33 | |
| 8 | China | 23 | 3.6% | 1.1× | 821 | |
| 9 | South Korea | 17 | 2.6% | 1.1× | 275 | |
| 10 | Russia | 14 | 2.2% | 2.5× | 81 | |
| 11 | Türkiye | 10 | 1.6% | 2.3× | 19 | |
| 12 | Switzerland | 8 | 1.2% | 0.3× | 13 | |
| 13 | Canada | 6 | 0.9% | 1.0× | 10 | |
| 14 | Italy | 5 | 0.8% | 0.7× | 10 | |
| 15 | Denmark | 5 | 0.8% | – | 5 | |
| 16 | Taiwan | 4 | 0.6% | 0.3× | 8 | |
| 17 | Spain | 4 | 0.6% | 1.0× | 6 | |
| 18 | Singapore | 3 | 0.5% | 2.0× | 3 | |
| 19 | Netherlands | 2 | 0.3% | 1.0× | 2 | |
| 20 | Finland | 2 | 0.3% | – | 2 | |
| 21 | Norway | 2 | 0.3% | 1.0× | 2 | |
| 22 | South Africa | 2 | 0.3% | 0.0× | 2 | |
| 23 | Portugal | 2 | 0.3% | – | 2 | |
| 24 | Austria | 1 | 0.2% | 0.0× | 1 | |
| 25 | Australia | 1 | 0.2% | – | 2 | |
| 26 | India | 1 | 0.2% | – | 1 | |
| 27 | Belgium | 1 | 0.2% | 0.0× | 2 | |
| 28 | Brazil | 1 | 0.2% | – | 1 | |
| 29 | Ireland | 0 | 0.0% | – | 1 | |
| 30 | Poland | 0 | 0.0% | – | 8 | |
| 31 | Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0.0% | – | 2 | |
| 32 | Hungary | 0 | 0.0% | – | 3 |
Applicants
The largest applicants by international patent families, 2015 to 2024: across the world, then within each of the five countries with the most families in Counter-Uncrewed & Low-Altitude Defence. Names are as held in the source and are not consolidated across subsidiaries.
Global
642 international families
BAE SYSTEMS PLC · United Kingdom
DIEHL DEFENCE GMBH & CO KG · Germany
RAYTHEON CO · United States
RHEINMETALL WAFFE MUNITION GMBH · Germany
MBDA DEUTSCHLAND GMBH · Germany
SAAB AB · Sweden
44
41
26
24
23
18
United States
156 international families
RAYTHEON CO
BAE SYS INF & ELECT SYS INTEG
ROCKY RESEARCH
SARCOS CORP
HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORP
AXON ENTPR INC
26
6
6
6
5
4
Germany
135 international families
DIEHL DEFENCE GMBH & CO KG
RHEINMETALL WAFFE MUNITION GMBH
MBDA DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
HENSOLDT SENSORS GMBH
DIEHL BGT DEFENCE GMBH & CO KG
AIRBUS DEFENCE & SPACE GMBH
41
24
23
10
6
3
United Kingdom
72 international families
BAE SYSTEMS PLC
Leonardo UK Ltd
MBDA UK LTD
SECR DEFENCE
STEELROCK TECH LTD
ARMSTRONG NEIL ROCKCLIFFE
44
4
4
3
3
2
Japan
56 international families
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP
MITSUBISHI HEAVY IND LTD
NEC CORP
TAKEHISA KIWAMU
RIKEN
DISCO ABRASIVE SYSTEMS LTD
15
14
9
3
2
1
Israel
50 international families
RAFAEL ADVANCED DEFENSE SYSTEMS LTD
ELTA SYSTEMS LTD
COHEN DAVID
ISRAEL AEROSPACE IND LTD
ASSAF MONSA CHERMON
D FEND SOLUTIONS AD LTD
8
5
4
4
3
3
Similar capabilities
The nine capabilities that share the most international patent families with Counter-Uncrewed & Low-Altitude Defence, 2015 to 2024: the families counted in both as a share of those counted in either. Each card shows its five largest countries.
National Security
Integrated Air & Missile Defence
61.2% shared · 401 families in both
Germany
United States
Japan
Israel
United Kingdom
92
75
47
41
28
Strategic Infrastructure
Military Bases & Installations
23.1% shared · 409 families in both
United States
Germany
South Korea
United Kingdom
Japan
353
218
111
100
84
Critical Technology
Directed Energy Technologies
14.5% shared · 296 families in both
United States
Japan
Germany
China
United Kingdom
479
386
232
150
99
National Security
Long-Range Strike
9.3% shared · 125 families in both
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
France
Israel
278
159
88
77
44
National Security
Land Fires
6.8% shared · 131 families in both
United States
Germany
France
United Kingdom
South Korea
357
232
127
113
93
National Security
Battlefield Aviation & Uncrewed Systems
5.5% shared · 47 families in both
United States
South Korea
Germany
Israel
United Kingdom
68
29
23
23
22
National Security
Electronic Warfare & Spectrum Operations
5.3% shared · 139 families in both
United States
China
Japan
Germany
South Korea
587
328
227
225
120
National Security
Control of the Air
4.2% shared · 47 families in both
United States
United Kingdom
Germany
Türkiye
France
176
57
50
43
41
National Security
Standing Force Generation & Training
3.0% shared · 39 families in both
United States
Germany
South Korea
United Kingdom
Canada
217
90
58
38
30
Crosswalk
How Counter-Uncrewed & Low-Altitude Defence is matched to the patent classifications. The entries below were chosen for it; each stands for itself and everything beneath it in the scheme, 12 Cooperative entries in all. A patent family counts when any of its codes, in either scheme and at any office, falls under one of them. Codes since retired are placed under the entries that replaced them.
| Entry | Title in the scheme | Why it is chosen | CPC codes | IPC codes | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F41H11/02 | Anti-aircraft or anti-guided missile or anti-torpedo defence installations or systems | Anti-aircraft defence systems, including drone defence | 2 | 2 | 6,794 |
| F41H13/0043 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target | Directed-energy weapons such as lasers and microwaves | 8 | none | 5,761 |
| F41H13/0093 | Devices generating an electromagnetic pulse, e.g. for disrupting or destroying electronic devices | Electromagnetic pulse devices that disable electronics | 1 | none | 438 |
| B64U2101/16 | UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications for conventional or electronic warfare for controlling, capturing or immobilising other vehicles | Uncrewed aircraft that capture or disable other vehicles | 1 | none | 462 |
CPC and IPC codes are the codes in use on patent documents, at any office, that fall under the entry. Documents is the larger of the two schemes' counts of documents carrying one of them. An entry with no IPC codes can be told apart only in the Cooperative scheme.
The Cooperative codes in use that count towards Counter-Uncrewed & Low-Altitude Defence: 12 codes on 13,187 documents. The full crosswalk is in the cpc-to-capability.csv download.
| Code | Title | Under entry | How placed | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F41H11/02 | Anti-aircraft or anti-guided missile or anti-torpedo defence installations or systems | F41H11/02 | In the scheme | 5,931 |
| F41H13/005 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a laser beam | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 1,545 |
| F41H13/0062 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a laser beam causing structural damage to the target | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 900 |
| F41H13/0056 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a laser beam for blinding or dazzling, i.e. by overstimulating the opponent's eyes or the enemy's sensor equipment | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 892 |
| F41H13/0087 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a bright light, e.g. for dazzling or blinding purposes | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 698 |
| F41H11/04 | Aerial barrages | F41H11/02 | In the scheme | 595 |
| F41H13/0043 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 522 |
| F41H13/0068 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being of microwave type, e.g. for causing a heating effect in the target | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 520 |
| B64U2101/16 | UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications for conventional or electronic warfare for controlling, capturing or immobilising other vehicles | B64U2101/16 | In the scheme | 462 |
| F41H13/0093 | Devices generating an electromagnetic pulse, e.g. for disrupting or destroying electronic devices | F41H13/0093 | In the scheme | 438 |
| F41H13/0081 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being acoustic, e.g. sonic, infrasonic or ultrasonic | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 410 |
| F41H13/0075 | Directed energy weapons, i.e. devices that direct a beam of high energy content toward a target for incapacitating or destroying the target the high-energy beam being a radiofrequency beam | F41H13/0043 | In the scheme | 274 |