Image credit: GDLS/Epirus
General Dynamics Land Systems has entered into an agreement with the startup Epirus to integrate its Leonidas pulse electromagnetic weapon on the Stryker armored vehicle. The developers want to propose this combination to the US Army, which plans to equip the Stryker with directed energy weapons and has already tested it with a combat laser.
The US military believes that energy weapons will be relatively cheaper than traditional ones and will allow them to fire at targets as long as the energy source is working. In 2019, the Army included the development of such weapons among its priority projects.
In particular, the military wants to equip Stryker armored vehicles with directed energy weapons, which are part of a short-range mobile air defense system. Its main task will be to fight with drones and their swarms.
General Dynamics Land Systems and Epirus announced a partnership agreement on October 25. It involves the integration of Leonidas into manned and unmanned combat vehicles, including Stryker armored vehicles.
This is a pulsed electromagnetic emitter with electronic components based on gallium nitride, which is capable of disabling the electronics of unmanned aerial vehicles. It can operate both in target irradiation mode and in constant radiation mode to organize a no-fly zone.