Three drones attacked two United States military bases in Iraq. The attacks are meant as retribution for the U.S. supporting Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said over the span of 24 hours, two drones attacked the al-Asad airbase in western Iraq. One drone was destroyed, but the second was only damaged. CENTCOM said an unspecified number of soldiers suffered minor injuries.
In that same 24-hour timespan, CENTCOM said a third drone targeted a base in northern Iraq but was destroyed. There are also reports of a fourth drone strike on a U.S. base in Syria.
“In this moment of heightened alert, we are vigilantly monitoring the situation in Iraq and the region,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “We want to emphasize U.S. forces will defend U.S. and coalition forces against any threat.”
Small unmanned aerial systems are everywhere in warfare these days. They’re easy to fly, cheap, and incredibly destructive. To sustainably defend against this kind of threat, a new type of base defense is necessary. Leonidas may be that system.
Built by Epirus, the Leonidas High Power Microwave System for Counter Electronic Effects is a drone killer. It uses high power microwaves (HPM) to defeat electronic components.
Most High Energy Laser (HEL) systems available today can either attack single drones, or swarms of drones. Thanks to some proprietary software, Leonidas can do both.
“Imagine a friendly drone flying, flying rather close to an enemy drone, we can take out just that enemy drone,” said Andrew Wargofchik, the communications manager for Epirus. “Now, all via software, we can then widen our HPM pulse. So, all with the same system, we can take out a swarm of drones, 10 or hundreds, or then narrow that beam if needed to take out just one drone.”
Straight Arrow News had the chance to speak with Wargofchik at the 2023 Air, Space and Cyber Conference hosted by the Air and Space Forces Association in National Harbor, Maryland.
Wargofchik said that while the exact price of the Leonidas system is classified, once it’s plugged in and running, the cost to take out drones depends on how much you’re paying for electricity.
The Leonidas system is scalable, meaning it can be made more or less powerful depending on the need. The mobile variant can be mounted to the back of a pickup truck, or on top of an armored vehicle, like the U.S. Army’s Stryker combat vehicle. And of course, Leonidas can help defend bases.
Wargofchik said if four to six Leonidas systems are placed around a base, “You have 360-degree protection against not just drones, but other electronic threats. So, anything with an electronic footprint, it’s going to be vulnerable to our HPM pulse. So, imagine enemy vehicles coming in. We can stop engine motors. We can stop individual drones. We can stop swarms of drones.”
Both the wars in Ukraine and now Israel show how susceptible civilian infrastructure is to drone attacks as well. So, while Leonidas may have more military applications today, it could be possible to see systems like Leonidas protecting more civilian assets tomorrow.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
