Microwave drone killer now on Pentagon’s online store

Epirus’ Leonidas high-power microwave weapon, which knocks out drones by frying their electronics, has been added to the Pentagon’s online counter-drone marketplace, making it easier for U.S. military units and other federal agencies to buy the system.

The California-based company said Leonidas met the criteria for inclusion in the Counter-UAS Marketplace run by Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the U.S. Army-led organization that coordinates counter-drone efforts across the U.S. Department of War and other government agencies. Epirus did not say which customers are already looking at buying the system through the platform.

Leonidas uses a phased array of solid-state gallium nitride amplifiers to fire rapid pulses of microwave energy that disable the electronics inside drones. Unlike a missile or gun that has to hit one target at a time, a single pulse can affect several drones at once, which Epirus says makes the weapon cheaper and better suited to large swarms than one-to-one interceptors or traditional jamming. Because the system is software-defined, operators can shape where the energy goes, and Epirus says the weapon can defeat drones flown by radio, by fiber-optic cable or autonomously.

The fiber-optic claim matters for drone warfare in Ukraine, where both sides now use drones that trail a thin cable back to the operator, making them immune to radio jamming. In January 2026, Epirus said Leonidas had disabled a fiber-optic-guided drone for the first time, hitting the drone’s onboard electronics directly.

JIATF 401 opened the marketplace in February 2026 as a central online catalog where military and federal users, including agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, can compare tested counter-drone sensors and weapons, review performance data and buy them without starting a separate contract each time. Only systems that pass the task force’s testing and validation are listed. The first four purchases through the platform, worth $13 million combined, were announced in April.

Leonidas has been in development since 2020 and has grown into a family of systems. The U.S. Army bought prototypes for its Indirect Fire Protection Capability high-power microwave effort under a $66.1 million contract in 2023, Epirus built a smaller Leonidas Expeditionary version for the U.S. Marine Corps that fits on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, and it has shown a maritime variant designed to stop boat motors. Last year, the company also unveiled Leonidas on a 10-ton tracked uncrewed ground vehicle from General Dynamics Land Systems.

Being listed on the marketplace does not mean any unit has bought the system yet, but it gives eligible users a faster route to order it once they decide they want it.