- The US Army wants laser weapons transferable between ordinary military vehicles
- LOCUST X3 could destroy drones for $5 to $10 per engagement
- Detachable laser mounts could prevent vehicle repairs from disabling weapons
The US Army wants modular lasers that mount on ordinary trucks, and AeroVironment won the initial manufacturing award for its 30-kilowatt LOCUST X3 in September 2026.
The weapon is designed to destroy Group 1 to 3 drones, which cover aircraft from roughly 9 kg (20 pounds) to 600 kg (1,320 pounds).
AeroVironment puts each engagement below $10, while a March 2026 trade report cited $5 per shot, a figure the company has not itemized.
Sled design frees lasers from single vehicles
In 2022, the Army reactivated an air defense battalion at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for laser-armed Stryker vehicles, yet reliability problems shifted its focus.
“We’re getting to the point where the systems are reliable enough, but we still have to make them maintainable and repairable because this is an Army system,” said Kirk Williams, Chief Engineer at the Army’s Directed Energy Project Office.
“It’s going to be on a battlefield. Things are going to break. We can break things in very creative ways, right? So if it’s not reliable, or if it’s not maintainable, if it’s not repairable, that’s a problem.”
Under the plan, the laser sits on a detachable frame that moves between platforms, so a truck needing maintenance no longer sidelines the weapon.
“We’re focused on any vehicle in the motorpool. I want to try to integrate future capability of high-energy lasers into it,” said Brig. Gen. Guy Yelverton, the Army’s Capability Program Executive for Defensive Fires.
AeroVironment lists output between 20 and 35 kilowatts depending on mission, with an in-house AI system called Halo Pinpoint handling detection, tracking and engagement.
Range, power, and delivery timeline limit the promise
A single laser engages one drone at a time, and its beam weakens over distance, while smoke, dust and weather reduce effectiveness further.
Battery power gives roughly 80 to 120 seconds of firing depending on the system and the magazine refills once the beam stops
At 30 kilowatts, the X3 ranks among the weaker laser weapons, and every LOCUST version so far counters only small drones.
The service expects first X3 units in operation by early 2028, while a separate containerized laser aims for 150 kilowatts.
Scott Keeney, chief executive of nLIGHT, a laser developer working with AeroVironment, expects scaling to one megawatt, a level the Navy has also discussed.
The Army contract is worth $464.8 million, and AeroVironment separately reported its initial international order, valued above $50 million, on September 8th.
The company is spending over $30 million to expand its Albuquerque campus, which should add 450 jobs and an estimated $670 million economic impact.
The Army attributes several successful engagements to LOCUST, including a drone interception dated August 25, 2026, near the southern border.
However, without released engagement data, independent verification of the military’s claims remains limited.
