US counter-drone task force selects four directed-energy pilot systems

The US Department of War announced on 5 October that Joint Interagency Task Force 401 had selected four directed-energy counter-drone systems for a pilot in operational environments. The named systems are AeroVironment's Palletized High-Energy Laser, Kord's Firefly High-Energy Laser, Boeing's Compact Laser Weapon System and Epirus's Leonidas High-Powered Microwave system. The announcement identifies products for evaluation, not a winner of a procurement competition or an accepted base-defence configuration.

The pilot is intended to collect information about requirements, cost, performance and sustainment for high-energy laser and high-powered microwave equipment. JIATF-401 says it is coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration, US Northern Command and the services. That matters for systems used around domestic airspace: the operational question includes safe employment and integration with existing airspace procedures, not just whether a test target can be defeated.

What the selection establishes

The release names four systems but does not assign them to particular bases, state quantities or contract values, or report measured results from this pilot. It says additional systems may be evaluated at a planned December shoot-off at Dugway Proving Ground. Earlier JIATF-401/FAA work at White Sands provided a safety-assessment framework for a laser demonstration; it does not establish an approval for all four products at every installation.

This is a distinct programme step from the task force's previously reported Domestic Shield contracting vehicles and the department's separate 2 October memo to accelerate counter-UAS approvals. The next evidence to watch is installation-specific deployment for the pilot, soldier-operated performance, sustainment data and any separate production or service-adoption decision. Until then, selection should be described as pilot participation.

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