Latest news with #Leonidas
Scoop
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Fijian Indians In NZ ‘Not Giving Up' On Pasifika Classification Battle
Article – RNZ This week marks the 146th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured labourers from British India to Fiji. Susana Suisuiki, Pacific Waves Presenter/Producer , RNZ Pacific Bulletin Editor The co-founder of Auckland's Fiji Centre is concerned that Indo-Fijians are not classified as Pacific Islanders in Aotearoa. This week marks the 146th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured labourers from British India to Fiji, who departed from Calcutta. On 14 May 1879, the first group of 522 labourers arrived in Fiji aboard the Leonidas, a labour transportation ship. Over 60,000 men, women and children were brought to Fiji under an oppressive system of bonded labour between 1879 and 1916. Today, Indo-Fijians make up 33 percent of the population. While Fiji is part of the Pacific, Indo-Fijians are not classified as Pacific peoples in New Zealand; instead, they are listed under 'Indian' and 'Asian' on the Stats NZ website. Nik Naidu said that he understands Fiji was the only country in the Pacific where the British implemented the indentured system. 'It is also a sad legacy and a sad story because it was basically slavery,' he said. 'The positive was that that Fijian Indian community made a lasting impact on Fiji. 'They continue to be around 30 percent of the population in Fiji, and I think significantly in Aotearoa, through the migration, the numbers are, according to the community, over 100,000 in New Zealand.' However, he said the discussions on ethnic classification 'reached a stalemate' with the previous Pacific Peoples Minister. 'His basic argument was, well, ethnographically, Fijian Indians do not fit the profile of Pacific Islanders,' he said. Then-minister Aupito William Sio said in 2021 that, while he understood the group's concerns, the classification for Fijian Indians was in line with an ethnographic profile which included people with a common language, customs and traditions. Aupito said that profile was different from indigenous Pacific peoples. 'StatsNZ recognises ethnicity as the ethnic group or groups a person self-identifies with or has a sense of belonging to,' Aupito said in a letter at the time. It is not the same as race, ancestry, nationality, citizenship or even place of birth, he said. 'They have identified themselves now that the system of government has not acknowledged them. 'Those conversations have to be ongoing to figure out how do we capture the data of who they are as Fijian Indians or to develop policies around that to support their aspirations.' Naidu believes the ethnographic argument was a misunderstanding of the request. 'The request is not to say, like Chinese in Samoa, they are not indigenous to Samoa, but they are Samoans, and they are Pacific Chinese. 'So there is the same thing with Fijian Indians. They are not wanting to be indigenous. 'They do want to be recognised as separate Indians in the Pacific because they are very different from the mainland Indians. 'In fact, most probably 99 percent of Fijian Indians have never been to India and have no affiliations to India because during the Girmit they lost all connections with their families.' However, Naidu told Pacific Waves the community is not giving up. 'There was a human rights complaint made – again that did not progress in the favour of the Fijian Indians. 'Currently from…Fiji Centre's perspective, we are still pursuing that. 'We have also had a discussion with Stats NZ about the numbers and trying to ascertain just why they have not managed to put a separate category, so that we can look at the number of Fijian Indians and also relative to Pacific Islanders.' Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told RNZ Pacific that as far as Fiji is concerned, Fijians of Indian descent are Fijian. Last year, RNZ Pacific asked the current Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti on whether Indo-Fijians were included in Ministry of Pacific Peoples as Pacific people. In a statement, his office said: 'The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is undertaking ongoing policy work to better understand this issue.' Meanwhile, the University of Fiji's vice-chancellor is asking the Australian and British governments to consider paying reparation for the exploitation of the indentured labourers more than a century ago. Professor Shaista Shameem told the ABC they endured harsh conditions, with long hours, social restrictions and low wages. She said the Australian government and the Colonial Sugar Refinery of Australia benefitted the most financially and it was time the descendants were compensated. While some community leaders have been calling for reparation, Naidu said there are other issues that need attention. He said it has been an ongoing discussion for many decades. 'It is a very challenging one, because where do you draw the line? And it is a global problem, the indenture system. It is not just unique to Fiji. 'Personally, yes, I think that is a great idea. Practically, I am not sure if it is feasible and possible.' Focus on what unites – Rabuka Fiji is on a path for reconciliation, with leaders from across the political spectrum signing a Forward Fiji Declaration in 2023, hoping to usher in a new era of understanding between the indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. Rabuka announced a public holiday to commemorate Girmit Day in 2023. In his Girmit Day message this year, Rabuka said his government is dedicated to bringing unity and reconciliation between all races living in Fiji. 'We all know that Fiji has had a troubled past, as it was natural that conflicts would arise when a new group of people would come into another's space,' he said. 'This is precisely what transpired when the Indians began to live or decided to live as permanent citizens. 'There was distrust as the two groups were not used to living together during the colonial days. Indigenous Fijians did not have a say in why, and how many should come and how they should be settled here. Fiji was not given a time to transit. The policy of indenture labour system was dumped on us. Naturally this led to tensions and misunderstandings, reasons that fuelled conflicts that followed after Fiji gained independence.' He said 146 years later, Fijians should focus on what unites rather than what divides them. 'We have together long enough to know that unity and peace will lead us to a good future.'
Scoop
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Fijian Indians In NZ 'Not Giving Up' On Pasifika Classification Battle
The co-founder of Auckland's Fiji Centre is concerned that Indo-Fijians are not classified as Pacific Islanders in Aotearoa. This week marks the 146th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured labourers from British India to Fiji, who departed from Calcutta. On 14 May 1879, the first group of 522 labourers arrived in Fiji aboard the Leonidas, a labour transportation ship. Over 60,000 men, women and children were brought to Fiji under an oppressive system of bonded labour between 1879 and 1916. Today, Indo-Fijians make up 33 percent of the population. While Fiji is part of the Pacific, Indo-Fijians are not classified as Pacific peoples in New Zealand; instead, they are listed under "Indian" and "Asian" on the Stats NZ website. Nik Naidu said that he understands Fiji was the only country in the Pacific where the British implemented the indentured system. "It is also a sad legacy and a sad story because it was basically slavery," he said. "The positive was that that Fijian Indian community made a lasting impact on Fiji. "They continue to be around 30 percent of the population in Fiji, and I think significantly in Aotearoa, through the migration, the numbers are, according to the community, over 100,000 in New Zealand." However, he said the discussions on ethnic classification"reached a stalemate" with the previous Pacific Peoples Minister. "His basic argument was, well, ethnographically, Fijian Indians do not fit the profile of Pacific Islanders," he said. Then-minister Aupito William Sio said in 2021 that, while he understood the group's concerns, the classification for Fijian Indians was in line with an ethnographic profile which included people with a common language, customs and traditions. Aupito said that profile was different from indigenous Pacific peoples. "StatsNZ recognises ethnicity as the ethnic group or groups a person self-identifies with or has a sense of belonging to," Aupito said in a letter at the time. It is not the same as race, ancestry, nationality, citizenship or even place of birth, he said. "They have identified themselves now that the system of government has not acknowledged them. "Those conversations have to be ongoing to figure out how do we capture the data of who they are as Fijian Indians or to develop policies around that to support their aspirations." Naidu believes the ethnographic argument was a misunderstanding of the request. "The request is not to say, like Chinese in Samoa, they are not indigenous to Samoa, but they are Samoans, and they are Pacific Chinese. "So there is the same thing with Fijian Indians. They are not wanting to be indigenous. "They do want to be recognised as separate Indians in the Pacific because they are very different from the mainland Indians. "In fact, most probably 99 percent of Fijian Indians have never been to India and have no affiliations to India because during the Girmit they lost all connections with their families." However, Naidu told Pacific Waves the community is not giving up. "There was a human rights complaint made - again that did not progress in the favour of the Fijian Indians. "Currently Centre's perspective, we are still pursuing that. "We have also had a discussion with Stats NZ about the numbers and trying to ascertain just why they have not managed to put a separate category, so that we can look at the number of Fijian Indians and also relative to Pacific Islanders." Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told RNZ Pacific that as far as Fiji is concerned, Fijians of Indian descent are Fijian. Last year, RNZ Pacific asked the current Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti on whether Indo-Fijians were included in Ministry of Pacific Peoples as Pacific people. In a statement, his office said: "The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is undertaking ongoing policy work to better understand this issue." Meanwhile, the University of Fiji's vice-chancellor is asking the Australian and British governments to consider paying reparation for the exploitation of the indentured labourers more than a century ago. Professor Shaista Shameem told the ABC they endured harsh conditions, with long hours, social restrictions and low wages. She said the Australian government and the Colonial Sugar Refinery of Australia benefitted the most financially and it was time the descendants were compensated. While some community leaders have been calling for reparation, Naidu said there are other issues that need attention. He said it has been an ongoing discussion for many decades. "It is a very challenging one, because where do you draw the line? And it is a global problem, the indenture system. It is not just unique to Fiji. "Personally, yes, I think that is a great idea. Practically, I am not sure if it is feasible and possible." Focus on what unites - Rabuka Fiji is on a path for reconciliation, with leaders from across the political spectrum signing a Forward Fiji Declaration in 2023, hoping to usher in a new era of understanding between the indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. Rabuka announced a public holiday to commemorate Girmit Day in 2023. In his Girmit Day message this year, Rabuka said his government is dedicated to bringing unity and reconciliation between all races living in Fiji. "We all know that Fiji has had a troubled past, as it was natural that conflicts would arise when a new group of people would come into another's space," he said. "This is precisely what transpired when the Indians began to live or decided to live as permanent citizens. "There was distrust as the two groups were not used to living together during the colonial days. Indigenous Fijians did not have a say in why, and how many should come and how they should be settled here. Fiji was not given a time to transit. The policy of indenture labour system was dumped on us. Naturally this led to tensions and misunderstandings, reasons that fuelled conflicts that followed after Fiji gained independence." He said 146 years later, Fijians should focus on what unites rather than what divides them. "We have together long enough to know that unity and peace will lead us to a good future."
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Quite a lot to crow about: Mridula Ramesh has some good news about chicken
'Chicken.' What ideas does the word bring to mind? I doubt 'saviour of Western civilization' tops the list. Yet, that's how Jerry Adler and Andrew Lawler described the chicken, writing in Smithsonian Magazine in 2012. The story they refer to, one of history's turning points, goes like this: In 480 BCE, the Athenian general Themistocles was on his way to what would become known as the Battle of Salamis. Earlier that year, the Persian ruler Xerxes I had attacked Greece. At Thermopylae, King Leonidas's Greek forces valiantly held back the vastly larger Persian army. When they were betrayed and the Persian army began to outflank them, Leonidas sent most of his army away and remained, with a small force, to slow the Persian advance. Their heroic sacrifice inspired and united the Greek city-states. Still, Greek morale was low ahead of the battle at Salamis. They knew they faced a stronger foe. Enroute, Themistocles and his army saw two roosters fighting. The birds were going at it — no fear, no hesitation, immersed in fierce combat. 'Look at them,' Themistocles reportedly said. 'They don't fight for their country, their gods, or glory. They fight only because neither will yield to the other. When animals are so brave, what's our excuse?' None, apparently. The Greeks prevailed. In the decades that followed, the Greek civilisation produced giants such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, whose ideas and values laid the foundations of Western civilisation. The rooster's fierceness is unsurprising; after all they, like the ostrich, are the closest living relatives of the Tyrannosaurus rex. Sadly, as Adler and Lawler note, 'the civilization that [they helped save] today honors those same creatures by breading, frying and dipping them into one's choice of sauce.' How did the human-chicken connection change over time? The modern chicken appears to have descended from the red jungle fowl native to India, South-East Asia and China. Chicken bones have been found in these regions dating back thousands of years. Researchers believe the fowl were drawn to the grains cultivated by ancient farmers, and were then domesticated. Scientists believe domestication began in Thailand, but the yellow skin of many domestic chickens, which comes from the grey jungle fowl found only in Peninsular India, complicates this theory. Fortunately, the origin debate isn't central to our story; what matters is that hens were well-adapted to the Indian climate. Over time, the chicken spread westward, probably as a ritual offering or for use in cockfights. They infiltrated human diets because they were easy to transport and rear, tasted delicious, and laid eggs. The evolving language around chickens reflects their transformation from fighters to food. Around 1000 CE, chicken meat got a boost after the Catholic church banned the consumption of four-legged animals during fasts. Over the next few centuries, as chicken farming became more widespread, proverbs such as 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket' and 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch' entered the English language. The term 'spring chicken', a clever nod to naivety, harks back to the days when chickens hatched only in springtime. Since humans favoured the tender meat of younger birds, 'no spring chicken' meant a person was past their prime. America's first chicken census, in 1880, recorded 102 million of the birds. In 10 years, that number had doubled. The invention of incubators enabled year-round hatching, calming price swings. With the rise of larger farmed flocks, the term 'pecking order' emerged in the 1920s, describing social power within organisations. As commercial chicken farms expanded, the demand for specialised chicken feed grew alongside. Chickens had graduated from scavengers to consumers. Commercial farms did not value the fighting spirit of their chickens. Indeed, a mutation that allows chickens to lay more eggs through the year also makes them less aggressive. So, today, to call someone 'chicken' is to label them a coward. This usage can be traced to the 17th century. Indians, meanwhile, have been eating chicken for a long time. Tandoori chicken, believed to have been invented by the restaurant chain Moti Mahal, may be much more ancient, with clay tandoors found at Harappan sites. Chicken finds frequent mention in Sangam-era poetry from about 2,000 years ago. And the 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, in his writings, describes chicken pulao as part of a feast in Muhammad Bin Tughlaq's court. *** Why discuss chicken? Because it is the world's most-produced land-based meat, according to UN Food and Agriculture Organization data. Barring Europe and China (where more pigs are farmed, by weight), the rest of the world prefers chicken overwhelmingly. That may not be a bad thing. From a health perspective, a 100-gm roast-chicken dish offers 32 gm of protein and just 3 gm of fat. In contrast, a comparable serving of lean roast beef holds 11 gm of fat and 15% less protein. A 100-gm lean cut of pork roasted without fat has 30% less protein and twice the fat of chicken, while mutton has the worst protein-to-fat ratio. Of course, a good meal is about more than protein-to-fat ratios, but these statistics are still intriguing. On to economics, a 500-gm portion of boneless chicken costs 30% less than a comparable portion of beef or pork, and 66% less than a comparable portion of lamb. What about climate? Chicken would appear to be the greenest of the popular meats. Beef uses three times as much water as chicken (per 100 gm of protein produced), emits nine times as much carbon, and takes up 23 times as much land. Lamb is almost as bad, while pork, the closest climate rival, emits 30% more carbon, uses 70% more water and requires 50% more land than chicken. Now for a thought experiment. Consider a four-person urban Indian household that gets their 220 gm of daily protein from chicken. Switching to pork costs them ₹1 lakh more per year and exacts a higher price in terms of water, carbon and land. Switching to beef costs them ₹65,000 more per year, while raising their emissions by 36 tonnes of CO2-eq. That's as much as the total emissions of five Indian households. The switch also costs as much water as 14 families would use a year. Switching to lamb is expensive (an additional ₹3.3 lakh a year) and almost as climate-unfriendly as beef. The easiest way to get one's protein component and yet save carbon and cash would be to eat dal only (without rice), which is impractical. Replacing chicken with a combination of rice and dal reduces carbon emissions and land area used (an important consideration in India), but potentially uses more water (also an important consideration). Overall, if one prefers animal protein, chicken (and eggs) offer the best trade-off across cost, climate and land use. Industrial broiler chicken, which uses far less water than lentils and rice, is even more climate-friendly. But here's the trade-off: From the chicken's perspective, this sucks. What a comedown for the descendant of the T-rex and the saviour of Western civilisation. Chicken is cheap thanks to factory farming, but a broiler's (or layer's) life makes Dante's fifth circle of hell seem tame: Hatched, tossed into a trash conveyor if less than perfect or crammed into a closed shed, dosed on antibiotics for a few short weeks before being slaughtered. Sadly, climate impact rises with the degree of freedom. *** Can this change? An animal's climate impact is shaped by its food-conversion ratio (FCR), a measure of how many kg of feed it takes to add 1 kg of body weight. Cattle have an FCR of 8, chickens an FCR of 2; pigs and sheep fall somewhere in-between. FCR suffers in higher temperatures, B Soundararajan, chairman of Suguna Foods (one of the largest poultry manufacturers in India), tells me. So, the changing climate affects FCR, which will in turn worsen the climate impact of poultry. To lower climate impact, we can choose more-climate friendly feed, such as the insect-protein discussed in my last column (on eggs). Or, as in the past half-century, we can improve FCR through selective breeding. Another alternative is to dispense with farms altogether and eat lab-grown meat. This is the picture Isaac Asimov paints in his 1953 novel, The Caves of Steel, where yeast strains are bred into cake or chicken to feed a global population that has crossed 8 billion. Growing meat in a lab begins by harvesting stem cells from an animal and growing them in bioreactors. A chemical signal then causes these cells to transform into muscle, fat and other parts of meat, which are fashioned into desired cuts. We're getting to the point where lab-grown meat is getting positive feedback from consumers. Sensing an opportunity, more than 150 companies globally are working to expand this segment. My sense is, considering the trade-offs between cruelty, climate-impact and farmer livelihoods, lab-grown meat may work better as a substitute for beef than for chicken. This could be the future, and it is here. Could the chicken eventually bid adieu too, leaving just its essence behind? There's a lot to think about while tucking into that stew. (Mridula Ramesh is a climate-tech investor and author of The Climate Solution and Watershed. She can be reached on tradeoffs@
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.'
