How to Stop Swarms of Drones? Blast Them With Microwaves
Microwave weapons are starting to play a real role in modern warfare, especially as drones become harder to stop with traditional jamming. The U.S. Army is already deploying a system called Leonidas, built by the California startup Epirus. It fires powerful microwave pulses that scramble drones’ electronics, causing them to crash. These systems are particularly useful against autonomous drones or ones guided by fiber optics—types that are immune to radio jamming.
Several companies are racing to develop similar weapons. Thales (Europe) has RapidDestroyer, tested successfully by the British Army. Leidos (U.S.) is building a powerful system called Mjölnir and a smaller portable version. RTX (formerly Raytheon) has two systems—PHASER and CHIMERA—while Lockheed Martin is working on MORFIUS, a small drone that flies into enemy swarms and disables them with microwaves.
Ukraine is desperate to get its hands on this tech as Russia increasingly uses coordinated drone swarms. Two Ukrainian firms, Transient Technologies and First Contact, are working on their own versions, but progress is still early. Epirus tried to get U.S. approval to send its system to Ukraine and may try again, especially with signs of a policy shift under Trump.
Microwave blasters aren’t cheap upfront, but they’re cost-effective to operate. Longer term, the goal is to develop systems powerful enough to shoot down drones—or even cruise missiles—from up to 10 kilometers away. For now, they’re emerging as a promising last line of defense.
Source:
A.M.
