Army Bets $464,800,000 On Drone-Killing Lasers That Cost Under $10 A Shot

The Army is moving to field a new drone-killing laser — and one company is already showing how it could be powered in the field.

AeroVironment won a $464.8 million Army contract in September for its LOCUST X3 laser, and the company said in a Sept. 8 release that its LOCUST laser system “delivers engagements for less than $10 per shot.” Army officials said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington that the first LOCUST X3 could be ready to counter drones by early 2028, Military Times reported.

“We’re moving from science fiction to science reality,” John Garrity, AeroVironment’s vice president of directed energy systems, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“This first of its kind directed energy program will enable our formations to defeat unmanned systems and dominate from the outset,” Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said in a Sept. 2 Army release that called the award the service’s first contract to produce a high-energy laser weapon.

The laser runs on electricity and has “a magazine that regenerates with the system’s power supply,” according to the release.

“Directed energy weapons have been considered S&T [science and technology] projects, and I’m proud that the Army is moving at speed and scale to deliver this first time capability,” Brent Ingraham, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said in the release.

Missiles that can cost $500,000 to $1 million are fired at drones that cost a few thousand dollars or less, and “even though we’re successful in taking those out, we’re still losing,” Garrity added. Lasers “really push that economic cost curve in the right direction for the first time reliably.”

Each laser shot costs “less than a cup of coffee” in energy, Garrity said, and the under-$10 figure is essentially the cost of that electricity. He said a laser’s upfront cost is about even with other counter-drone weapons, some of which need expensive radars, and that it comes out ahead after bringing down a single drone.

A hybrid truck built by Harbinger, a California maker of electric and hybrid truck chassis, powered a LOCUST X3 at American Rheinmetall’s booth during the meeting, Defence Blog reported. The LOCUST X3 is a 30-kilowatt laser, according to AeroVironment’s September contract release.

Harbinger’s battery system holds about 105 kilowatt-hours of energy, which “theoretically could support a continuous 30 kW load for approximately 3.5 hours,” John Harris, co-founder and CEO of Harbinger, said in a statement to the DCNF.

“However, counter-drone laser systems typically operate in short bursts rather than drawing power continuously, so actual operating time depends on the system’s power requirements and usage patterns,” Harris added.

Harbinger is part of an American Rheinmetall team building hybrid-powered uncrewed ground vehicles that carry supplies for the Army, according to a release on Harbinger’s website.

Leonardo DRS, which builds onboard power systems for military vehicles, has “proven across multiple vehicle platforms that our onboard power technology delivers the electrical power required for directed-energy missions,” Dennis Crumley, senior vice president and general manager of Leonardo DRS Land Electronics, said in a statement to the DCNF.

Drawing power from the vehicles a unit already drives can “reduce or eliminate separate generators and generator trailers, along with the equipment, spare parts, and maintenance associated with them,” Crumley said.

AeroVironment is due to deliver the first LOCUST X3 by the final quarter of fiscal 2027, and the Army plans to put it on its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Military Times reported.

Kirk Williams, chief engineer at the Army’s Directed Energy Project Office, told the outlet that the Army would like to keep the first unit for testing and training, but that every capable counter-drone system it builds “tends to get deployed somewhere.” The laser’s modular design will let soldiers handle field-level maintenance, Williams said, according to the outlet.

The Pentagon named three lasers, including one from AeroVironment, and Epirus’ Leonidas high-powered microwave on Oct. 5 for a counter-drone pilot at U.S. bases, Military Times reported. The Pentagon said the pilot will collect data on the weapons’ performance, cost and upkeep, according to the outlet.

“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,” Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, who directs the joint task force running the pilot, said in the Pentagon’s release, according to Military Times.

“The more capabilities we put in the hands of soldiers, the easier they are to maintain, the more reliable they are, the better,” Col. Charles Kean, the 7th Infantry Division’s deputy commanding officer for support, told an audience at the meeting, according to Military Times.

“It’s not just the Army; it’s other allies, it’s other services throughout the Department of War that are all coming to us saying, ‘Hey, we need this capability. We need this capability now,’” Garrity told the DCNF.

AeroVironment is buying parts that take a long time to make, lining up second suppliers and expanding its manufacturing, and its directed energy business will have “well over 100 people in Albuquerque” working on the lasers, he said.

“Directed energy is here. It’s reliable. It is ready to get into the field at a fast rate,” Garrity said.

AeroVironment’s contract covers more than 26 laser weapons, Garrity told Military Times.

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