In an illustration not a lot of marksmanship however extra of some great benefits of microwaves, an Epirus Leonidas directed vitality, high-power microwave (HPM) anti-drone weapon has knocked 49 Uncrewed Aerial Autos (UAV) out of the air with one shot.
Two issues that make drones significantly regarding is that they are sufficiently small to look from surprising corners of the sky and so they’re low cost sufficient that they are often deployed in huge numbers. In actual fact, they’re so low cost that they pose not solely a navy risk, however a critical hazard to civilian aviation from people who’re irresponsible, mischievous, or simply oblivious.
That is the rationale there are such a lot of several types of anti-drone weapons. Every has their benefits and drawbacks, with none offering a one-size-fits-all panacea. As a substitute, every must be fitted to a selected state of affairs or deployed as a part of a layered protection technique.
One countermeasure is using microwave weapons like Leonidas. Named after the Spartan king who held off a Persian invasion with a vastly inferior drive on the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas is considered one of a household of weapons based mostly on utilizing long-pulse microwave beams to burn out the electronics of small drones.
The concept is not new, however Epirus has improved on earlier iterations by utilizing Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors to generate microwaves as a substitute of fragile, power-hungry magnetron vacuum tubes. This enables for smaller, extra sturdy, and extra cell methods that use much less energy. As well as, Leonidas is software program pushed and might tailor its waveform for optimum impact, it’s protected to make use of round people who could also be within the subject of fireside, and the current system has twice the vary of the 2022 model.
However the core characteristic is its “one-to-many” functionality that provides it operational flexibility to deal with a wide range of eventualities. For instance, it might strike towards targets with precision to take out hostile drones whereas avoiding collateral harm, be programmed to arrange no-fly zones with security corridors to take out hostiles whereas permitting friendlies to cross, maintain steady hearth with out overheating, and take down swarms in a single go.
Epirus
On August 26, 2025, in entrance of an invitation-only viewers at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, Leonidas took half in a reside hearth train wherein it disabled 61 drones with 100% success. This included knocking out two teams of three drones approaching without warning from reverse instructions, concentrating on considered one of two drones chosen by an viewers member earlier than disabling the second, and intercepting and dropping a single drone right into a predetermined protected zone.
Then got here the celebration piece, it took on over 4 dozen drones without delay, dropping them out of the sky concurrently with a single pulse. That won’t appear to be a lot in phrases, however a video supplied by the corporate had the lot immediately crashing like somebody had lower their strings.
Epirus’ Leonidas Excessive-Energy Microwave Defeats 49-Drone Swarm
“This can be a watershed second for Epirus,” stated Andy Lowery, Epirus CEO. “We consider showcasing our weaponized electromagnetic interference is the simplest technique to talk that Leonidas is the one mission-capable, counter-swarm resolution for the one-to-many battle.Those that joined us witnessed this first-hand as 61 drones went up – and 61 went down.”
Supply: Epirus
