Latest news with #AndyLowery
Yemen Online
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yemen Online
US Army Receives Advanced System to Counter Yemen's Houthi Drones
In a new move to enhance regional security, the US defense company Epirus has announced the delivery of an advanced counter-drone system to the US Army. This development is part of ongoing efforts to combat Houthi drone attacks targeting commercial ships and military bases in the Red Sea and surrounding areas. The new system, known as ExDECS, utilizes directed-energy technology to disrupt drone swarms before they reach their targets. Derived from the Leonidas Expeditionary system, it is specifically designed to neutralize unconventional aerial threats using high-powered microwave waves. The prototype of the system has been delivered to the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia, where it will undergo testing as part of ground-based air defense operations. According to Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus, the system provides US forces with a "critical advantage" in countering drone threats, strengthening their ability to protect military and civilian assets in the region. This development comes at a time when Houthi drone attacks have been escalating, with the group increasingly using UAVs in assaults against commercial ships and military bases. The newly deployed system is expected to boost US defensive capabilities against these threats, offering enhanced protection for international shipping and regional stability.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marines Get Their First High Power Microwave Weapon For Taking On Drone Swarms
The U.S. Marine Corps has taken delivery of the Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm, or ExDECS, weapon, its maker Epirus announced today to coincide with the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C. ExDECS will allow the Corps to start experiments with high-power microwave (HPM) technology in the increasingly critical low-altitude air defense (LAAD) role. This kind of counter-drone system is increasingly seen as a critical layer in force protection and something that is urgently needed to enhance current and future ground-based air defense capabilities. ExDECS is a derivative of the Leonidas HPM-energy-based counter-drone system developed by Epirus, whose products we will revisit soon in a very in-depth story. The company delivered the first ExDECS system to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Virginia earlier this year, where it completed government acceptance testing ahead of a planned test program. The mobile, solid-state HPM system has been developed as part of a contract awarded by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR). In September 2024, the ONR awarded Epirus an additional follow-on contract to support further testing and evaluation of the system as part of the Preliminary Evaluation of Ground-based Anti-Swarm UAS System (PEGASUS) program. 'Drone warfare is changing the fight — fast. Systems like ExDECS give Marines a decisive advantage by neutralizing multiple electronic threats at once with a single system — what we call a one-to-many capability,' said Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus. 'This delivery is a critical step toward fielding non-kinetic counter-swarm solutions that enhance the mobility, survivability, and lethality of our Marine forces.' While the maximum effective range of ExDECS is classified, the Department of Defense has confirmed that Epirus HPM systems can affect targets at 'tactically relevant ranges,' the company confirmed to TWZ. Generally, HPM systems are for point defense, effective within a handful of miles of the target. Leonidas Expeditionary was introduced in 2024 and is the latest addition to the company's range of scalable HPM systems for counter-electronics. ExDECS is designed to integrate with light tactical vehicles and trailers to improve expeditionary short-range air defense (SHORAD) capabilities. HPM weapons belong to a broader category of directed-energy weapons, which also includes lasers. All of them tackle their target or targets without the use of a projectile. Specifically, HPM weapons use high-frequency radio waves to disrupt or disable critical electronic systems on a target — literally frying them if the weapons are powerful enough. Once targeted, aerial drones will crash or otherwise malfunction. An HPM system's power levels and how it focuses its beam have impacts on its range and ability to engage multiple threats at once. A wide beam means HPM weapons have greater potential to counter drone swarms than lasers, which have to focus on one target at a time. A radiofrequency directed-energy weapon also offers notable advantages over 'soft-kill' options, like electronic warfare jammers, in that it can also bring down drones that are operating autonomously, or those using fiber-optic-cable guidance, by disrupting their onboard electronics. ExDECS and the Leonidas system are primarily aimed at defeating uncrewed aircraft, including large drones or networked swarms of drones. It could also potentially be employed against more traditional aircraft, as well as low-flying cruise missiles, and even threats on the ground. The U.S. Army previously acquired and field-tested a microwave weapon ostensibly designed for non-lethal crowd-control use. Like a laser, an HPM weapon is also cheap to use. Epirus estimates that defeating a drone with ExDECS costs just five cents. This becomes an even more important factor when faced with drone swarms, which a system like ExDECS is optimized for. As an Epirus spokesperson told TWZ: 'It's not about targeting one drone at a time — it's about affecting everything within the volume of space covered by our electronically scanned array.' Epirus previously told TWZ that the technology behind Leonidas makes it particularly efficient since it uses 'artificial intelligence-controlled solid-state power amplifiers to achieve extremely high levels of power output.' The company says this makes the core components of this directed-energy weapon highly scalable, as well. As we have discussed before, HPM directed-energy weapons are an area in which the U.S. military, including the Navy, and other armed forces around the world are currently investing. Epirus is among the leading players in this field, with its Leonidas having previously been integrated on the Stryker armored fighting vehicle. Other examples include the Tactical High-power Operational Responder, also known as THOR, a containerized counter-drone system that the U.S. Air Force has been testing. Outside the United States, systems include the British Army's Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon demonstrator, or RF DEW, which has demonstrated the ability to bring down a swarm of drones during trials, which you can read about here. As for the Marine Corps, the service is forging ahead with plans to expand its counter-drone strategy, with a wide variety of systems, from vehicle-mounted solutions down to infantry-operated ones. These include the vehicle-based Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, and the lighter L-MADIS. Both these systems use electronic jamming to disrupt enemy drone communications, but they can also be used in conjunction with kinetic effectors. In MADIS, the vehicles are provided with 30mm cannons and M240C coaxial machine guns, while L-MADIS can be teamed with shoulder-fired FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. An early version of L-MADIS made headlines in 2019 when it shot down an Iranian drone from the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during its operational debut. Since ExDECS is trailer-based, it could also be deployed aboard warships in this way. While MADIS and L-MADIS represent the initial effort to bolster the counter-drone capabilities of Marine Corps low-altitude air defense battalions, the service is also working on a broader, and more nebulous, effort that aims to give every Marine access to drone defense and detection capabilities. You can read more about this plan here. Another part of the Marine Corps' counter-drone strategy involves installation defense. This involves weapons or technologies that can protect Marine Corps bases and facilities from hostile drones, with a focus on using non-kinetic means of disrupting drones or bringing them down. This has seen Counter small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (I-CUAS) installed at Marine bases. With drones becoming better hardened against electronic countermeasures and jamming, and increasingly autonomous, counter-drone strategies are made more complicated. A fast-evolving threat means that a broad range of countermeasures is needed to keep pace, in what is a potentially deadly cat-and-mouse game. Now, with the receipt of the ExDECS, the Marines are ready to start trials with this HPM technology. Contact the author: thomas@
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Epirus debuts high-power microwave weapon to knock out boat motors
Counter-drone company Epirus unveiled a new high-power microwave system capable of disabling manned and unmanned boat motors, it announced Tuesday. Leonidas H2O 'was effective against vessel motors at record ranges' during the U.S. Navy's Advanced Technology Exercise Coastal Trident event in Crane, Indiana, held in August 2024, according to the announcement. The system knocked out four commercially available vessel motors, varying in horsepower from 40 to 90 'at a multitude of ranges,' it noted. The Pentagon 'has spent years of research and development and spent tens-of-millions of dollars into developing a non-kinetic vessel stop solution, with no operational system deployed to date. With Leonidas H2O, we are bringing forth a technology with demonstrated effectiveness to fill this capability gap, today,' Epirus CEO Andy Lowery said in the statement. The California-based company debuted its ground-based system designed to protect forward operating bases from incoming swarm threats in 2020 and has since proven Leonidas can adapt to other platforms, including being mounted on a drone in a pod. 'Leonidas, by its nature, it's just an old-fashioned platform. We've made force fields … of electromagnetic energy,' Lowery told Defense News. 'Whether that electromagnetic energy spoils a drone's electronics from working correctly or spoils a boat's motor, or use your imagination, anything with little computers in it and stuff, is susceptible to these persistent fields of energy.' The recent Navy exercise proved the system — scaled down to a third of its original size — could go up against 'a whole bunch of different types of boat motors out there,' Lowery said. It did so despite testing restrictions at the range limiting it from operating at full strength and from using certain frequencies. Lowery noted that the system was effective up to nearly 100 meters working at half power. The technology would come in handy at ports and close to coastlines, where kinetic defenses would not be a good option, Lowery said. Adapting Leonidas for marine operations meant the company took into account that it would endure the corrosive effects of salt water, but otherwise, 'the system works more or less the same,' Lowery said. 'Except for one item,' he added. 'It kind of uses the water as a mirror, and so [we] can use the water to our advantage, that is it hits certain spots in even further distances by using reflections off the water.' Because of the beams' behavior on water, the company made adaptations to the software, he noted. One limitation of the system is that it does not work under water. 'The frequencies just don't propagate under water. They just stop dead in like an inch of travel,' Lowery said. Epirus continues to work to get the capability into the hands of service members. There are two systems deployed with the Army in the U.S. Central Command area of operations and a few others going to another operational area, Lowery said. US Army could soon have a high-power microwave to destroy small drone swarms 'Operational commanders probably have the strongest voice on hitting a gas pedal and getting us moving a lot quicker,' he added. A Navy solution, Lowery said, could be delivered 'expeditiously.' The system could be packed in a container to fit on a vessel like a Littoral Combat Ship or a Coast Guard cutter, he noted. 'They can very easily put one of these on long fantail ships. Even some of these same fantail ships are in the Black Sea trying to do sort of escort control for merchants and other things running through that region,' Lowery said. 'Another excellent idea is to try to hit some of the surface missiles that the Houthis and stuff are sending out. We could try our hand at disrupting some of those things as well.' Lowery said he often points to how the Russian invasion of Ukraine in recent years has left Russia with roughly 50% of its navy capabilities destroyed, sunk or damaged beyond use by Ukrainians, with no navy, using unmanned weapons. 'We're back into this war of the machines. We're back into this kind of guerrilla warfare where the first wave of battle ends up becoming machines on machines,' he said. 'We can have a system that has a very deep magazine that can build force fields out and take care of these, not only unmanned air vehicles, but unmanned surface vessels and unmanned ground vehicles.'
Axios
05-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Drone-frying defense firm Epirus raises $250 million
Epirus plans to expand production of its directed-energy weapons and jump into overseas and commercial markets on the heels of a $250 million funding round. Why it matters: Powerful lasers and microwaves are exploding in popularity as militaries scramble to more effectively — cheaply, quickly, sustainably — counter drones. Widespread adoption, however, is still lacking. Follow the money: This latest funding round, led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners LP, pushes Epirus' venture account beyond $550 million. The company previously won a $66 million prototyping contract with the U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. How it works: Epirus makes Leonidas, which can be towed or mounted to combat vehicles like the Stryker. It zaps electronics with blasts of energy. This can bring down handfuls of drones and kill small motors. More than two dozen directed-energy initiatives are underway across the military, according to a study published by the Emerging Technologies Institute. What they're saying: "A new era of threats mandates a shift from a 'one to one' mindset to a 'one to many' way of thinking for short-range air defense," CEO Andy Lowery said, "and we are primed to support the Department of Defense in this new way of warfare." What's next: Epirus will open what it's calling an "immersive simulation center" later this year in Oklahoma, home to Fort Sill and the Joint Counter-Small UAS University. Go deeper: Israel wants to deploy its Iron Beam within a year
