Army to spend $465 million on ‘Group 3 killer’ anti-drone laser

The Army has awarded a $464.8 million contract for a laser weapon designed to destroy the type of drones that Iran has launched against U.S. troops and partner nations in the Middle East for more than five months.

The service has selected the LOCUST X3 laser made by AeroVironment, Inc. for its Enduring-High Energy Laser program, according to a company news release.

The 30-kilowatt laser is specifically designed to counter mid-sized drones that the U.S. military refers to as Group 3 unmanned aerial systems, said John Garrity, vice president of directed energy systems at AeroVironment, Inc. One such unmanned aerial system that has frequently been used against U.S. troops in the Middle East is Iran’s Shahed-136 one-way attack drone.

“LOCUST X3 is intended to be the Group 3 killer,” Garrity told reporters on Aug. 7. “When we talk about Group 3, that’s just one of the more prevalent threats that you see in warfare today, seen in conflicts in Iran and in Ukraine with Shahed drones.”

The laser allows U.S. troops to destroy drones at greater ranges than other types of weapons, and the LOCUST X3 can bring down targets in seconds, Garrity said. Those attributes allow the weapon to rapidly destroy drone swarms.

“When you talk about a LOCUST laser weapon system, you’re able to put effects on target at wide ranges at the speed of light,” Garrity said. “If you’re able to kill off drones in single-digit seconds or less, depending on the range and the type of material, you’re able to jump between targets quite effectively and efficiently.”

The laser is also meant to destroy smaller drones, which the military calls Group 1 and 2 unmanned aerial systems, he said.

“Unfortunately, all three classes of those drones can do a tremendous amount of harm to our assets and our servicemen and women,” Garrity said.

The LOCUST X3 is meant to be “the apex predator” of the Army’s layered defenses against small to mid-level drones, said Aaron Westman, senior director for business development at AeroVironment, Inc.

“It can really kill a lot of threats,” Westman said during the media roundtable. “Its job is to really, let’s say, thin the herd to be able to kill high volumes of threats.”

That allows the military to save its more expensive interceptors for specific threats so that its system of layered defenses “doesn’t run out of bullets,” Westman said.

Currently, the U.S. military’s inventory of ground-based air defense missiles has been so depleted during the Iran war that experts estimate it will take years to replenish all the interceptors that have been fired.

Westman added that a missile can miss its target, but with a laser, “as long as you can see something, you can hit it.”

AeroVironment, Inc. will deliver dozens of LOCUST X3 lasers to the Army over the next few years as part of the contract, a company news release says. The laser is designed to be mounted on vehicles, such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Efforts are ongoing to determine if the laser can also be mounted on the Infantry Squad Vehicle. 

An Army spokesperson previously told Task & Purpose that if the laser were approved and fielded as planned, it would become the service’s first directed-energy program of record.

Over time, the company expects to field higher power versions of the lasers, Garrity said.

Earlier versions of the LOCUST laser have already been fielded, with some laser systems deployed within the continental United States, Garrity said. One feature common to the company’s lasers is that they use an Xbox controller.

“To a young soldier, sailor, airman, guardian that’s using these systems, it’s not unlike what they’re using at their own house for video games,” Garrity said.