Pentagon bets $465 million on laser weapon as drone swarms outpace America’s arsenal
The U.S. Army has handed AeroVironment, Inc. a $464.8 million contract to build a laser cannon meant to solve a problem that years of missile spending never fixed: waves of cheap, disposable drones chewing through American defenses faster than the Pentagon can replace what it fires back. The new LOCUST X3 laser, unveiled this month under the Army’s Enduring High Energy Laser program, is being marketed as the answer to Iran’s Shahed-136 attack drones and the broader swarm tactics reshaping modern war from the Middle East to Ukraine. But strip away the marketing language about “apex predators” and “thinning the herd,” and what emerges is a sobering admission: the world’s most expensive military has spent decades chasing a drone problem it still cannot outrun, and now it is racing to burn hundreds of millions of dollars on directed energy just to keep pace.
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