Pentagon names 4 directed-energy weapons for counter-drone program at US bases

The Pentagon on Monday named four directed-energy weapons for a homeland counter-drone pilot, the first systems the military will field and test at U.S. bases under a program ordered by Congress .

The four systems selected are AeroVironment’s Palletized High-Energy Laser, Epirus’ Leonidas high-powered microwave, Kord’s Firefly high-energy laser and Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapon System, the Defense Department said in a release .

The pilot is run by Joint Interagency Task Force 401, or JIATF-401, the Army-led organization set up last year to coordinate counter-drone work across the military and other federal agencies.

“High-energy lasers and high-powered microwave systems are tools that can be effectively used in a layered drone defense,” Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, the task force director, said in the release. “This pilot program will test these capabilities in an operational environment so we can understand how best to integrate and sustain them to defend the homeland.”

The department said the pilot will gather real-time data on how the systems perform, what they cost and what it takes to operate and maintain them.

Ross said in August the pilot will run for a year, with service members operating and maintaining the weapons at the bases. The task force is coordinating the pilot with the services, U.S. Northern Command and the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA.

In May, JIATF-401 selected five sites for the pilot: Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and Fort Bliss, Texas, both tied to the southern border mission; Naval Base Kitsap, Washington; Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota; and Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.

Officials said at the time that deployment plans would be worked out with installation commanders over 180 days, with operations expected later this year. Monday’s release does not say which system will go to which installation, how many of each will be fielded or what the systems and the pilot as a whole will cost.

Cost is the main selling point for lasers and microwaves, and one of the things the pilot is meant to test. Firing one costs a fraction of the price of a missile or even a gun round, and neither leaves unexploded ordnance on the ground.

Ross told reporters in August he was skeptical of per-shot math alone. “If I procure that system and it costs me $6 million and I take one shot a year, you can’t tell me that that shot only costs 8 cents,” he said.

Beyond cost, lasers and microwaves address different threats. A high-energy laser dwells on one drone at a time until it burns through. A high-powered microwave can thwart a swarm of drones in a single burst by overwhelming their electronics, though its wider footprint raises concern about effects on nearby systems.

Among the lasers, AeroVironment’s system is the company’s LOCUST laser in a roll-on, roll-off configuration, meaning it is packed onto a self-contained pallet that can be moved by truck or ship and set up wherever needed.

The company said in April that a palletized LOCUST tracked and defeated target drones aboard the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush in an October 2025 live fire with the Navy and the Army’s rapid weapons development office.

In September, the Army awarded AeroVironment a $464.8 million deal to produce its 30-kilowatt LOCUST X3 under the Enduring-High Energy Laser program, which the company called the first production contract for a U.S. directed-energy weapon. The Pentagon release does not say whether the pilot systems are drawn from that buy.

Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapon System, or CLWS, is a lower-power laser. Lower power generally means a laser must remain on a target longer to destroy it, but the system itself can be smaller and easier to move.

Boeing said in 2024 that a 5-kilowatt CLWS defeated Group 3 drones, which can weigh up to about 1,320 pounds, at the Red Sands counter-drone exercise in Saudi Arabia, using targeting data from the Army’s Forward Area Air Defense network. At the time, the company said the system had defeated nearly 500 drones in testing and demonstrations at ranges from about 200 meters to 2.5 kilometers.

Boeing also said CLWS units had returned from a multiyear overseas deployment with the Marine Corps but did not say whether they engaged hostile drones.

Kord, a KBR subsidiary, markets Firefly as a palletized, mobile laser scalable from 5 to 40 kilowatts. Company officials told reporters at an August demonstration near Guntersville Dam in north Alabama that a truck-mounted version typically needs a few seconds on target to down a small drone.

Leonidas is the only microwave counter-drone system in the pilot. Built by Epirus, it is the basis for the Army’s prototype high-power microwave for defending troops and sites against drone swarms, part of the Indirect Fire Protection Capability program.

The Army awarded the company $66.1 million in December 2022 for four prototypes and another $43.5 million in July 2025 for a second-generation version.

Epirus said in September 2025 that a Leonidas disabled all 61 target drones across five scenarios at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, including a 49-drone swarm in one burst.

The pilot follows a rough start for lasers in domestic airspace. In February, the FAA briefly closed the airspace over El Paso, Texas, after a counter-drone laser was used near Fort Bliss without coordinating with the FAA, the Associated Press reported at the time.

To address safety concerns, defense and FAA officials held a live-fire demonstration in March at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. AeroVironment later said the system tested was its LOCUST laser, the same family as the palletized system named in Monday’s pilot announcement.

On April 10, the FAA said a safety review found that the laser systems tested, with proper safety controls in place, “do not pose undue risk to passenger aircraft.”

The department said it will continue evaluating other directed-energy technology and will host a shoot-off in December at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, for additional laser and microwave systems.

Ross, the task force director, said in August the shoot-off is being set up so systems that perform well “can immediately result in a purchase order that allows us to start building the production lines to get these systems into the field.”

The pilot is one piece of a greater, ongoing effort. On Sept. 29, the Army announced that JIATF-401 had awarded 10 contracts worth up to $4.15 billion combined for sensors, optical sights and gun-based systems to support Domestic Shield, the push to protect priority Defense Department sites within the United States.

Michael Scanlon is a defense journalist covering air and space warfare. A former U.S. Air Force A-10 crew chief, he has supported land and sea programs for the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

周一，五角大楼为一名国土反无人机飞行员指定了四款定向能武器，这是军方根据国会下令的一项计划，将在美国基地部署和测试的首批系统。

美国国防部在一份声明中表示，选定的四个系统分别是 AeroVironment 公司的托盘式高能激光器、Epirus 公司的 Leonidas 高功率微波激光器、Kord 公司的 Firefly 高能激光器和波音公司的紧凑型激光武器系统。

该试点项目由联合跨部门特遣部队 401 (JIATF-401) 负责，该部队是由陆军领导的组织，于去年成立，旨在协调军队和其他联邦机构的反无人机工作。

“高能激光器和高功率微波系统是可有效用于多层无人机防御的工具，”特遣部队指挥官、陆军准将马特·罗斯在新闻稿中表示。“这项试点计划将在作战环境中测试这些能力，以便我们了解如何最好地整合和维持它们，从而保卫国土安全。”

该部门表示，试点项目将收集有关系统性能、成本以及运行和维护所需条件的实时数据。

罗斯在8月份表示，试点项目将持续一年，由驻扎在各基地的军人负责武器的操作和维护。该特遣部队正在与各军种、美国北方司令部和联邦航空管理局（FAA）协调试点项目。

5 月，JIATF-401 选定了五个试点地点：亚利桑那州华楚卡堡和德克萨斯州布利斯堡（均与南部边境任务有关）；华盛顿州基萨普海军基地；北达科他州大福克斯空军基地；以及密苏里州怀特曼空军基地。

官员当时表示，部署计划将在180天内与各驻地指挥官协商制定，预计将于今年晚些时候投入使用。周一发布的消息并未说明哪些系统将部署到哪些驻地，每种系统将部署多少套，以及整个系统和试点项目的总成本是多少。

成本是激光和微波武器的主要卖点，也是飞行员需要测试的项目之一。发射一次激光和微波武器的成本远低于导弹甚至子弹，而且两者都不会在地面留下未爆炸的弹药。

罗斯在八月份告诉记者，他对单凭每次注射的成本计算持怀疑态度。“如果我购置了这套系统，花费600万美元，而我一年只注射一次，你不能告诉我每次注射的成本只有8美分，”他说。

除了成本之外，激光和微波应对的威胁也不同。高能激光一次只能照射一架无人机，直到将其烧穿。而高功率微波则可以通过一次脉冲使无人机的电子设备过载，从而瘫痪一群无人机，但其更广泛的辐射范围也引发了人们对附近系统可能受到影响的担忧。

在众多激光器中，AeroVironment 公司的 LOCUST 激光器采用滚装滚卸配置，这意味着它被包装在一个独立的托盘上，可以通过卡车或轮船运输，并安装在任何需要的地方。

该公司在 4 月份表示，在 2025 年 10 月与海军和陆军快速武器开发办公室进行的实弹射击中，托盘式 LOCUST 导弹在乔治·H·W·布什号航空母舰上跟踪并击败了目标无人机。

9月，美国陆军授予AeroVironment公司一份价值4.648亿美元的合同，用于根据“持久高能激光”计划生产其30千瓦的LOCUST X3激光武器。该公司称这是美国首个定向能武器生产合同。五角大楼的新闻稿并未说明试点系统是否来自此次采购。

波音公司的紧凑型激光武器系统（CLWS）是一种低功率激光器。低功率通常意味着激光器需要照射目标更长时间才能将其摧毁，但系统本身可以更小巧、更便于移动。

波音公司在2024年表示，其5千瓦的近程武器系统（CLWS）在沙特阿拉伯红沙反无人机演习中，利用美国陆军前沿区域防空网络提供的目标数据，成功击落了重量可达约1320磅的3级无人机。当时，该公司称该系统在测试和演示中，于约200米至2.5公里的射程内，共击落了近500架无人机。

波音公司还表示，CLWS部队已从与海军陆战队的多年海外部署中返回，但没有说明他们是否与敌方无人机交战。

Kord是KBR的子公司，其Firefly激光器是一款托盘式移动激光器，功率范围从5千瓦到40千瓦不等。该公司官员在8月份于阿拉巴马州北部冈特斯维尔大坝附近举行的一次演示中告诉记者，车载版Firefly激光器通常只需几秒钟即可击落一架小型无人机。

“列奥尼达斯”是试点项目中唯一的微波反无人机系统。它由伊庇鲁斯公司制造，是陆军用于防御部队和设施免受无人机群攻击的高功率微波原型系统的基础，也是间接火力防护能力计划的一部分。

2022 年 12 月，陆军向该公司授予 6610 万美元，用于制造四款原型机；2025 年 7 月，陆军又授予该公司 4350 万美元，用于制造第二代产品。

Epirus 于 2025 年 9 月表示，一架 Leonidas 无人机在印第安纳州阿特伯里营地的五个场景中全部摧毁了 61 架靶机，其中包括一次齐射摧毁了 49 架无人机组成的集群。

此次试飞标志着激光武器在国内空域应用的开局并不顺利。据美联社当时报道，今年2月，在德克萨斯州埃尔帕索附近布利斯堡一处空域，有人未经美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）协调便使用了反无人机激光武器，导致FAA短暂关闭了该空域。

为了消除安全隐患，国防部和联邦航空管理局官员于3月在新墨西哥州白沙导弹靶场举行了一次实弹演示。AeroVironment公司后来表示，测试的系统是其LOCUST激光器，与周一发布的试点项目公告中提到的托盘式系统属于同一系列。

4月10日，美国联邦航空管理局表示，一项安全审查发现，在采取适当的安全控制措施的情况下，所测试的激光系统“不会对客运飞机构成过大的风险”。

该部门表示将继续评估其他定向能技术，并将于 12 月在犹他州达格威试验场举办一场激光和微波系统测试。

特别工作组主任罗斯在 8 月份表示，举办此次射击比赛的目的是为了让表现良好的系统“能够立即获得采购订单，从而使我们能够开始建设生产线，将这些系统投入使用”。

这项试点项目只是更大规模、持续性工作的一部分。9月29日，陆军宣布，第401联合跨部门特遣部队（JIATF-401）已授予10份合同，总价值高达41.5亿美元，用于采购传感器、光学瞄准镜和枪炮系统，以支持“国内盾牌”行动，该行动旨在保护美国境内国防部重点设施。

迈克尔·斯坎伦是一位报道空天战的国防记者。他曾是美国空军A-10攻击机的机组长，并为美国陆军、海军、海军陆战队和海岸警卫队的陆地和海上项目提供支持。