Defense technology company Epirus on Monday said it received a $66.1 million Army contract to provide four prototypes of its Leonidas high-power microwave (HPM) counter-drone system for field evaluations that if successful the company expects will lead to a program of record and potentially nearer-term operational deployments to meet urgent requirements.
The last of the prototypes is slated to be delivered within 14 months of the award and the contract also contains an additional year of logistics and sustainment.
The contract was awarded by the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) using Other Transaction Authority, which is outside traditional federal contracting regulations to allow for the rapid prototyping and fielding of capabilities to fill critical requirements gaps.
“And in particular, that capability gap is counter swarms,” Andy Lowery, Epirus’ chief product officer, told Defense Daily during a virtual interview.
If the prototype demonstrations prove successful and the Army decides that Leonidas can proceed toward an operational deployment, which would be a separate track from the pursuit of a traditional program of record, Lowery said the system would be effective against UAS such as Iran’s Shahed-136, which have been supplied to Russia in that country’s war against Ukraine.
The Shahed’s, equipped with explosives, have had success as munitions against critical infrastructure targets in Ukraine, although of late Ukrainian forces have demonstrated the ability to shoot most of the drones down with kinetic measures.
The prototypes that Epirus will supply the Army are “operationally ready to perform,” Lowery said. Leonidas is effective beyond the range of small arms fire, he added, potentially limiting the damage the drones could cause even after being damaged or shutdown. And once Leonidas is operating, the electro-magnetic pulse energy the system uses to essentially shutdown any drone is basically “free,” he said.
The contract is the largest in Epirus’ short history and the company said the award under the Indirect Fire Protection Capability “solidifies high-power microwave as an effective short-range air defense solution against swarming unmanned aerial systems (UAS).” The California-based company was founded in 2018.
Leonidas is an HPM, software-defined system that Epirus says can disable drones operating singly or in swarms for less than a penny a shot. The directed-energy system can defeat small, medium and large UAS by essentially shutting down a drone or drones and causing them to quit working, without using jamming techniques.
The Shahed-136s, which the British thinktank Royal United Services Institute says have a range of more than 900 miles and weigh more than 400 pounds, are considered Group III UAS. This is a category of drones with a maximum gross take-off weigh less than 1,320 pounds.
The procession toward a program of record would also be relatively rapid, Lowery said. The goal is to have this become a program of record, which would allow it to become a production program, in about two years with the Army Missiles and Space Program Executive Office, he said.
The Leonidas prototypes for RCCTO will be delivered on a standard military trailer that can be towed by a number of military vehicles. The system is also transportable on a C-130 aircraft.
Last year, Epirus, working with General Dynamics [GD], showcased the successful rapid integration and field testing of Leonidas on a Stryker wheeled combat vehicle for mobile short-range air defense.
Lowery said that Epirus is also exploring how Leonidas will perform against cruise missiles.
“So, we see this as the tip of the iceberg of a whole new, almost revolution of electronic warfare that encompasses the shorter range, but highly deadly…to electronics that this type of electronic attack method can provide.”