YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. — The Pentagon’s Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office has concluded a rigorous live-fire demonstration of high-energy laser and high-power microwave systems designed to defend military installations against low-altitude drone swarms.
YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. — In the scorching desert expanses of southwestern Arizona, military test directors and defense contractors conducted a weeklong series of live-fire engagements evaluating directed energy prototypes capable of neutralizing commercial off-the-shelf and weaponized fixed-wing drones.
As commercial quadcopters and loitering munitions proliferate rapidly among non-state militant factions and near-peer adversaries, traditional air defense interceptors—such as Stinger and Patriot missiles—have proven economically unsustainable. Expending a $400,000 interceptor against a $1,500 reconnaissance drone creates a favorable cost-exchange ratio for the adversary.
Laser Precision vs. High-Power Microwave Swarm Defeat
During the Yuma demonstration, the Joint Counter-sUAS Office (JCO) pitted two distinct directed energy technologies against simulated multi-axis aerial assaults. Mobile 20-kilowatt fiber lasers, mounted on tactical vehicles and palletized containers, acquired inbound targets via electro-optical tracking sensors, focusing thermal energy on structural wing joints and battery compartments until targets caught fire and plummeted to the desert floor within three to five seconds.
Concurrently, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Tactical High-Power Operational Responder (THOR) demonstrated area-wide defense against simultaneous swarm attacks. THOR releases nanosecond bursts of high-intensity radio frequency energy, frying the internal microcircuitry and GPS receivers of multiple converging drones simultaneously across a wide azimuth.
Operational Considerations for Domestic Installation Security
Beyond foreign forward operating bases, defense officials are evaluating directed energy platforms to protect sensitive domestic military sites, nuclear storage facilities, and aerospace test ranges from unauthorized surveillance incursions. Unlike kinetic weapons, directed energy systems produce no shrapnel, eliminating the hazard of falling explosive fragments in surrounding civilian communities.
“Directed energy provides what kinetic air defense simply cannot: a virtually unlimited magazine depth at pennies per shot,” said Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, Director of the JCO. “With electric power generation, as long as the generator runs or the battery pack holds charge, the system remains ready to fire.”