U.S. Army Tests AeroVironment's LOCUST Laser Drone Defense System for Homeland Airspace Security.

AeroVironment’s LOCUST high-energy laser weapon system has completed a live counter-drone test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, demonstrating the ability to engage both stationary and airborne unmanned aircraft while advancing U.S. efforts to deploy directed-energy defenses in domestic airspace. The company announced on May 6, 2026, that the event conducted with Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and the Federal Aviation Administration delivered new safety data critical for future counter-drone operations around military bases, borders, airports, and critical infrastructure.

The March 7–8 test connected real laser engagements with validated airspace control procedures, a key step before high-energy weapons can be fielded in populated or heavily regulated environments. The demonstration also reflects the growing military focus on low-cost, rapid-response counter-UAS systems capable of defeating drone threats without relying on conventional missiles or kinetic interceptors.

Related topic: US Navy conducts first-ever laser weapon test on an aircraft carrier to counter drone threats at sea.

AeroVironment's LOCUST high-energy laser weapon system demonstrated counter-drone engagements at White Sands Missile Range with JIATF-401 and the FAA, marking a step toward regulated U.S. use of directed-energy defenses for homeland security, military installations, and deployed force protection (Picture source: AeroVironment).

LOCUST is not a missile substitute in the conventional sense; it is a precision thermal weapon. Its armament is a high-energy laser that places focused energy on a selected point of a drone until heat damages a structural element, propulsion component, control surface, optical sensor, battery compartment, or electronic assembly. AeroVironment’s current LOCUST X3 is described as a third-generation system with a scalable 20–35+ kilowatt laser, modular beam director, and AI-enabled detection, tracking, and engagement automation through AV_Halo PINPOINT software. The company states that the system is intended for Group 1–3 unmanned aircraft and unmanned surface vehicles, with engagements advertised at below $5 per shot, although that figure reflects energy use rather than the full cost of operating, maintaining, transporting, and protecting the system. In tactical terms, the relevant distinction is magazine depth: a missile launcher is constrained by interceptor inventory, while a laser is constrained mainly by electrical power, cooling capacity, atmospheric conditions, target exposure time, and line of sight.

The March event also addressed the part of directed-energy employment that is usually less visible than the beam itself: fire authorization. AeroVironment said the White Sands test demonstrated automated shut-off functions, strict positive identification procedures, and no adverse effect on civilian aircraft during controlled evaluation scenarios. The FAA later stated that it and the Department of War had completed a safety assessment of a high-energy laser counter-drone system and determined that proper controls were in place and that the system did not pose undue risk to passenger aircraft. That finding does not mean unrestricted domestic laser use; it means the agencies now have a methodology for evaluating safety in the National Airspace System. The engineering model is based on layered checks before firing: safe pointing geometry, confirmed target lock, protected keep-out zones, subsystem status, software permissions, safety interlocks, and a wider air picture built from radar, transponder, and other sensor data.

The technology has matured through several increments rather than a single demonstration. AeroVironment delivered its first LOCUST laser weapon to the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office in 2022 under the Palletized High Energy Laser program. The company stated in December 2025 that LOCUST-equipped P-HEL systems had accumulated more than three years of operational deployment outside the United States and had been used against unmanned aircraft threats in real combat conditions. The next step was the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser effort: in September 2025, AeroVironment delivered two LOCUST systems integrated on the General Motors Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle, followed in December 2025 by two Joint Light Tactical Vehicle-mounted systems with a 20-kilowatt-class laser and a larger-aperture beam director intended to improve lethality. This progression explains the present configuration: not an isolated prototype, but a family moving from palletized defense to mobile Army vehicles and fixed-site protection.

LOCUST’s naval trial adds another data point. AeroVironment announced on April 21, 2026, that a palletized LOCUST laser weapon system had operated aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, CVN-77, during an October 2025 live-fire event conducted with the U.S. Navy and Army RCCTO. According to the company, the Palletized High Energy Laser tracked, engaged, and neutralized multiple target drones, and the shipboard configuration could run from its battery bank or recharge from ship power. This is relevant because beam control on a moving aircraft carrier is a more difficult stabilization problem than firing from a prepared test range. If the beam director, tracking software, and power architecture can function in a maritime environment, the same technical lessons can inform mobile ground employment from JLTVs, Infantry Squad Vehicles, Light Medium Tactical Vehicles, and fixed defensive sites.

The operational case for LOCUST is strongest when it is treated as one layer in a broader counter-UAS network, not as a universal answer. Lasers are well suited to small drones that present a visible aimpoint and remain within effective range long enough for thermal kill; they are less effective when weather, smoke, dust, obscurants, clutter, range, drone speed, or target construction reduce dwell time or beam quality. This is why JIATF-401’s own public guidance emphasizes distributed sensors, effectors, and mission command, and why AeroVironment’s Halo_Shield concept combines LOCUST with radar, electro-optical/infrared sensing, radio-frequency detection, Titan RF defeat systems, Switchblade loitering munitions, and battle management software. For U.S. forces, the requirement is not simply to shoot down one drone; it is to detect, classify, authorize, and defeat many low-cost aerial threats without exhausting expensive interceptors or disrupting legitimate air traffic.

For the United States, the essential capability is therefore controlled escalation at low cost per engagement. Small unmanned aircraft are now used for surveillance, smuggling, targeting, harassment, and direct attack, and JIATF-401 was established in August 2025 to accelerate counter-UAS capabilities for U.S. forces at home and abroad. The same task force has tied domestic drone defense to the National Capital Region, southern border security, America’s 250th anniversary preparations, military installation defense, and major public-event protection. LOCUST gives commanders a hard-kill option between electronic disruption and missile interception: more precise than area fire, less logistically burdensome than expendable interceptors, and more defensible in civilian airspace if the safety architecture continues to pass FAA review. Its limitations remain real, but the White Sands event shows that the U.S. is moving directed energy from range experimentation toward regulated operational use, which is the step that matters for homeland defense and deployed force protection.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.