The U.S. Army has awarded Eprius a contract worth US$66.1 million to provide a prototype of a new microwave weapon called Leonidas that can take down entire swarms of enemy drones in a single burst, leaving friendly aircraft intact. to
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proved, small and cheap drones can pose a real threat to the battlefield, and that threat will only grow as technology advances. Ready-made robotic aircraft have already proven to be very useful for reconnaissance, target detection and even direct strikes. Outside a conflict zone, being sent into airspace occupied by commercial aircraft can be a deadly nuisance.
In one nightmare scenario, the enemy attacks with a swarm of drones and overwhelms the defenses of the location, or the defenders launch multimillion-dollar missiles to destroy the drones, which cost millions of dollars. is to force you to consume .
To counter this threat, there is increasing attention to directed energy weapons such as lasers and microwaves. These systems come in varying sizes and levels of sophistication, but all of the benefits of operating at the speed of light, being able to engage multiple targets, and using electricity for ammunition at a ridiculously low cost per round. I am sharing.
An example of a directed energy weapon is the High Power Microwave (HPM) Leonidas funded under the Army’s High Speed Capabilities and Critical Technology Office (RCCTO) Indirect Fire Capability – High Power Microwave Program. Leonidas has been in development for several years, and the new funding is aimed at moving the technology into a field-ready prototype.
Like similar systems, Leonidas defends the drone by launching a blast of microwave energy that disrupts or destroys the drone’s electronics and crashes it into the ground. It can also handle cruise missiles.
The principle is very simple, the hard part is finding the best waveform for the job. In the past, this would have required a lot of hardware changes, but Leonidas uses a phased array driven by software, which makes it very easy to reconfigure and requires less crew than usual. You can operate it.
According to Epirus, Leonidas has the ability to precisely target a single drone, form a microwave wall to stop a swarm, shield a specific area of the sky, or target unfriendly drones in the same vicinity. It has the ability to configure friendly drones to operate while being eliminated. It is also an open architecture, easily extensible and designed to keep his zone safe from harming humans.
Epirus CEO Ken Bedingfield said: “This contract with RCCTO brings new counterswarm capabilities to the UAS battle using the cost-effective, modular and upgradeable Leonidas system. have evolved to ensure that the U.S. military has an effective countermeasure against short-term and over-the-horizon electronic threats for decades to come.”
The video below explains Leonidas.
Source: Epirus
