US Marines receive microwave weapon that "fries" drone electronics

The U.S. Marine Corps has received a new, highly effective Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm (ExDECS) microwave system developed by Epirus, TWZ reports. This powerful defense tool strengthens the military's defense capabilities against drone swarms, which are becoming an increasingly serious threat on the battlefield.

ExDECS is a mobile, trailer-mounted system that uses high-frequency radio waves to neutralize electronic threats. When microwave radiation is directed at a swarm of drones, their electronic control systems "fry" and fail, causing the drones to crash.

This system is based on Leonidas technology, which is primarily aimed at defeating unmanned aerial vehicles, particularly large drones or networked drone swarms. It could also potentially be used against more traditional aircraft, as well as low-flying cruise missiles and even ground-based threats.

The system additionally uses solid-state power amplifiers controlled by artificial intelligence to achieve extremely high levels of output power. The company claims that this makes the core components of this directed energy weapon highly scalable.

Another major advantage of ExDECS is its cost-effectiveness. Epirus estimates that it costs just 5 cents to destroy a single drone using the system. This is significantly cheaper than using traditional methods such as missiles or kinetic devices, which can cost thousands of dollars per shot.

The maximum effective range of the new weapon is classified, but the US Department of Defense has reported that Epirus' systems can hit targets at "tactically significant ranges."