At the recent Association of the United States Army (AUSA) in Washington, DC, drone warfare reigned supreme. Hence, it is no surprise that many companies displayed not only new drones and other autonomous systems, but also counter-UAS systems to defeat them. During the 3-day event (12-14 October), several companies made important announcements about this technology.

Alternatives are needed to missiles and other interceptors, as militaries cannot afford to spend expensive munition stockpiles to shoot down cheap (but deadly) drones. As a result, directed energy is gaining traction.

At AUSA, KBR spoke with FW Mag about being selected to deploy its 10kW FIREFLY counter-UAS high-energy laser weapons system to US Army bases. This is a 1-year pilot program via which participants will deploy counter-UAS systems around U.S. bases to test them and obtain user feedback.

KBR confirmed its FIREFLY “is not a prototype,” but has “already been proven against Group 1 through Group 3” UAS targets. There will be a “shoot-off in December” for participant companies to show how well their solutions work.

KBR understands there is no single solution for all UAS threats. “High-energy lasers are part of a layered defence structure,” and the company’s FIREFLY is highly modular. It can work and interface with other effectors (e.g., remote weapons systems), Command and Control centers, or radars.

Looking ahead, the company is researching and developing fire-on-the-move capabilities. “We have done preliminary testing,” FW Mag was told.

Another company that is expanding its relationship with the US military is Epirus, which produces LEONIDAS, a scalable high-power microwave (HPM) system for counter-UAS and counter-swarm point defence. The company already announced in August a USD$11 million contract with the U.S. Marine Corps, via the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research, for the High-power microwave Autonomous Vehicle Operational Capability (HAVOC) program.

On 13 October at the AUSA show floor, the company signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC). The goal is to “explore ways to integrate advanced HPM capabilities onto Army ground vehicles” to protect the Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT) and support broader formation-protection concepts and tactics.

In March 2026, Epirus, General Dynamics Land Systems, and Kodak AI announced a team-up to develop a mobile counter-UAS system by mounting Leonidas on a vehicle. At AUSA 2026, a concept of a LEONIDAS HPM system on a crewed GDLS pickup truck was displayed.

Also during AUSA, Leonardo announced a USD$500 million ceiling indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with three years of performance from the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401). The contract will “be eligible to compete for task orders that enable the rapid delivery of integrated C-UAS” for a variety of units, a company press release explained.

One important issue with counter-UAS systems is the amount of data and information that must be transmitted between troops up and down echelons, and through the complex systems and platforms that must operate to defeat the UAS threat. Previously it was “hard to showcase the 0s and 1s of a network at a trade show,” Mike Gold, Vice President of Business Capture for SOCOM at Persistent Systems, told FW Mag at AUSA.

The situation has changed, though, as the US Army (and other services) are aggressively committed to developing counter-UAS systems, as exemplified by the multiple contracts announced by JIATF-401. Persistent Systems sees itself as vital to these multi-layered counter-UAS systems. “We can integrate [platforms like counter-UAS] at the tactical edge and provide a Command and Control picture for a commander,” he explained.

Recent exercises where Persistent Systems participated include the XVIII Airborne Corps’ Scarlet Dragon Exercise, where the company “integrated 14 of 25 vendors in the exercise”; a United States Central Command (CENTCOM) Experimentation: Transforming in Contact (EXTiC) exercise in New Mexico; and the recent Project Convergence – Capstone 6.

Connecting everyone and everything from dismounted units and vehicles to a command outpost and further up the chain is critical. “If you cannot connect a dismounted platoon leader to other systems, with everyone else, the counter-UAS kill web falls apart,” Gould explained to FW Mag.

The company’s clients include the Royal Marines, US Army Europe forces, US Army units within the US, and a “big project” in Northern Europe.

To protect troops, vehicles, and infrastructure from the growing drone threat, high-energy systems like those manufactured by KBR and Epirus can be very helpful. At the same time, Persistent Systems creates the network that lets an ever-growing amount of data flow across battlefield nodes.

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