The company did not identify the buyer or disclose how many units were ordered. The deal opens an international market for a weapon already selected for production by the U.S. Army.
That U.S. award covers the $464.8 million Enduring-High Energy Laser program. AeroVironment described it as the first production contract for high-energy laser weapons in the United States.
“The threat from low-cost drones is global and has fundamentally changed the economics of warfare,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s president, chairman and chief executive. “LOCUST gives our customers an affordable, scalable way to defeat drone threats at scale without relying solely on expensive interceptors.”
LOCUST combines radar-independent sensing, tracking and directed-energy defeat functions in a modular system. It is designed to engage Group 1-3 unmanned aircraft and other aerial threats.
The weapon can be deployed at fixed sites, carried on pallets or installed on mobile platforms. It can also connect with multiple cueing sensors and command-and-control networks.
“This first international order for LOCUST is a pivotal milestone in our directed energy roadmap,” said Mary Clum, president of AeroVironment’s Space, Cyber and Directed Energy business. “We are not only accelerating the fielding of an operationally proven laser weapon system, we are also establishing a foundation for sustained and expanded international adoption to provide layered innovation in counter-drone defense.”
AeroVironment says each LOCUST engagement costs less than $10. That operating model offers an alternative to using more expensive missile interceptors against lower-cost drones.
The company is investing more than $30 million to expand its Albuquerque, New Mexico, manufacturing campus. The site will support domestic and international production of directed-energy, space and advanced defense systems.
AeroVironment expects the expansion to create more than 450 jobs and generate over $670 million in economic impact. The project is intended to create a vertically integrated production hub capable of meeting higher demand.
The company has demonstrated LOCUST from the deck of the USS George H. W. Bush and on the U.S. southern border. It has also integrated the system with Infantry Squad Vehicles and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles under the AMP-HEL initiative.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of War have signed a safety agreement providing a route for LOCUST operations in U.S. airspace. The agreement followed an FAA review of the laser system’s domestic deployment.
LOCUST forms part of AeroVironment’s Halo_Shield layered air-defense architecture. The platform combines the laser with the Titan counter-drone system and Freedom Eagle-1 missile against drones, swarms and other aerial threats.
