The Leonidas system, from the Epirus company, which is a powerful microwave weapon for use against unmanned aerial vehicles, continues its testing and development in the USA. Thus, on August 26, as announced, it managed to shoot down 49 drones together (of two types), by emitting a single microwave pulse!
In the same test, other scenarios were also tested, as follows:
- Swarm attack from many directions with 2 groups of three drones coming from opposite directions. The Leonidas shot down the two groups in succession.
- Selective targeting, with two drones flying in close proximity, and the Leonidas shooting down the one indicated at the last moment, leaving the other intact.
- Precision interception, by shooting down a drone so that it falls to the ground in a specific zone that had been defined, in order to test the system’s ability to choose where the debris will end up, if used in a densely populated area.
- Multi-target interception, by shooting down three drones that approached from different distances, which were hit simultaneously.
In the last scenario, a swarm attack was also carried out with 49 drones, while in total Leonidas neutralized all 61 drones used.
Leonidas is now in version 2, and has received $ 43 million in funding during the summer for the delivery of 2 systems to the US Army, in the Office of Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies. Previously, it had been funded for the delivery of 4 version I systems, while the interest of the US Armed Forces remains strong, which wants to integrate the system into vehicles, ships and aircraft, where similar versions have been presented, e.g. in a fuselage for fighter jets.
