Pentagon awards AeroVironment $500M counter-drone contract, laser fires for $3 a shot
The US Army awarded AeroVironment a 500 million dollar contract for commercial counter-drone systems, running through 2029. The centerpiece is the LOCUST directed-energy laser, which the company says can down a small drone for as little as three dollars a shot, aimed at closing a
The US Army has awarded AeroVironment ($AVAV) a 500 million dollar contract for commercial counter-drone systems, handled through Army Contracting Command at Detroit Arsenal in Michigan and running through the summer of 2029. The systems are built around the company's Switchblade loitering munitions and its LOCUST directed-energy laser, which chief executive Wahid Nawabi says can knock a small drone out of the sky for as little as three dollars a shot. The logic is economic: a one-way attack drone like the Shahed costs only a few thousand dollars to build, while intercepting one with a traditional air defense missile can cost millions. The Iran war exposed how badly that cost curve favors the attacker, and the Pentagon is pushing cheaper counter-drone tools across the force so that stopping a drone no longer costs far more than launching one.