Epirus unveiled a new high-power microwave counter-drone system mounted on a tracked robotic vehicle ahead of its formal debut at AUSA in Washington, the company said, presenting the combination as a mobile, software-defined option for defending bases and forces against swarming drones.
“Introducing Leonidas Autonomous Robotic, powered by GDLS TRX: a mobile counter-UAS capability featuring Epirus’ Leonidas high-power microwave platform integrated with GDLS’ Tracked Robot 10-ton (TRX) unmanned ground vehicle,” the company posted, announcing what it described as a partnership between an established supplier and an emerging technology firm. The post also headline-styled the collaboration: “Epirus x GDLandSystems | Neo-prime x prime partnership [autonomously] driving the future of defense technology.” The company invited attendees to its trade show booth, saying: “Come see Leonidas AR on display at AUSA Booth 7609 in Hall D/E.”
At the heart of the new system sits the Leonidas HPM module, a directed-energy emitter designed to place hostile electronic systems out of action using concentrated pulses of microwave energy. Company material says the system “uses a military-grade electromagnetic jamming emitter to instantly disable or destroy electronic targets” and that it can “simultaneously defeat multiple UAS in a swarm with pulses of high-power microwave energy.”
The platform is described as software-controlled and adaptable, allowing operators to tune output power and frequency bands to fit mission needs. That flexibility, the announcement said, permits the definition of “safe zones,” the exclusion of selected frequencies to avoid interfering with friendly systems, and the remote updating of system characteristics without returning the vehicle to base. Those features point to an operating model in which a single unmanned vehicle can be reprogrammed in the field to meet changing tactical demands.
Epirus framed the project as an example of a new development model for defense innovation, arguing that teaming established contractors with younger technology firms speeds the fielding of capabilities suited to a shifting battlefield.
Mounted on the GDLS TRX unmanned tracked vehicle, the Leonidas AR package offers a mobile counter-UAS node that can operate from forward or rear areas while keeping personnel at safer stand-off distances. The combination of a high-power microwave effect with a survivable, off-road chassis addresses an operational niche between static hard-site defenses and short-range, line-of-sight kinetic interceptors.
The system’s ability to place multiple platforms offline at once, if validated in operational testing, could alter how commanders layer short-range air defenses and electronic warfare effects. The software controls that permit excluding friendly bands and defining safe zones also reflect an effort to manage the collateral effects that high-power directed energy can impose on adjacent systems.
Epirus will display the Leonidas Autonomous Robotic at AUSA, where militaries and procurement officials frequently weigh new counter-drone concepts.