Category: Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership

From Lab to Life: How Digital Avatar Technology Is Redefining Biomedical Research

08/10/2026

By Rachel Hopton, Ph.D., Technical Program Manager at AV  

Modern warfighters operate in an environment where some of the most dangerous threats are the least visible.  

Chemical and biological agents can silently degrade lung function, trigger inflammatory cascades, and, ultimately, disrupt cognitive performance before detection is even possible. The result is a direct threat to readiness, decision-making, and mission success. 

Understanding and countering these threats remains a significant scientific challenge. Traditional approaches, such as animal studies and limited clinical trials, are often slow, costly, and fail to accurately predict how the human body responds to real-world exposures. 

In a battlespace defined by speed and uncertainty, the need is clear: faster, more predictive, human-relevant systems that accurately assess risk, anticipate outcomes, and inform protective and therapeutic decisions in real time. 

Enter nxtHealth™ mimiq:  the “Digital Avatar”.  

Imagine a system where we can grow human cells, from lungs, brains, livers, kidneys, and even our guts, inside precisely engineered chips that mimic how organs truly function, interact, and respond to threats.  

This is the promise of nxtHealth™ mimiq, an “organ-on-a-chip” technology that my colleagues and I have been advancing with the Air Force Research Laboratory 711th Human Performance Wing for the last several years.  

Our team at AV formally introduced nxtHealth mimiq to defense medical researchers, industry stakeholders and most importantly, our warfighters at the Military Health Sciences Research Symposium 2026 last week in Kissimmee, Florida.  

What we showed was a solution that the entire defense health organization can use to gain a new data-rich foundation for risk prediction, resource allocation, and strategic intervention. 

These organ-on-a-chip systems build on traditional cellular models by combining microfluidics (tiny channels for liquid flow), three dimensionality, advanced sensors, and living human cells into realistic in vitro organ models. 

Essentially, the technology mimics an organ and provides an environment where threat exposures can be simulated and observed in real time. More importantly, these systems enable faster, human-relevant insight into how chemical, biological, and environmental threats move across interconnected organ systems, overcoming the limitations of traditional research. By integrating advanced modeling and machine learning, they allow for earlier detection, predictive analysis, and more effective interventions to protect warfighter health, performance, and mission readiness.   

Now imagine connecting multiple organ chips together to create a Digital Avatar that models how the human body responds as an integrated system. Researchers can study complex exposures rapidly and safely, without placing people at risk. 

Examples of Simulating Organs 

A powerful example of our work is in partnership with the Naval Research Laboratory that combines lung, brain, liver, and kidney chips, which enables us to simulate an interconnected human organ system. Researchers introduce chemicals into the system and track how they move through the system to examine any brain cell changes that may be early indicators of cognitive impairment or toxicity.  

In this platform, we use microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and imaging to precisely monitor neuronal cellular activity. Importantly, this method generates rich data sets, which sophisticated machine learning algorithms analyze. This enables the rapid detection and prediction of abnormal neural firing patterns caused by exposure, offering a revolutionary “sentience-in-a-dish” capability. This helps us predict human performance impacts before obvious symptoms arise. 

We are also developing an “intestine-on-a-chip” in our DARPA-sponsored ADAPTER program to study traveler’s diarrhea, a leading cause of impaired combat readiness. ADAPTER chips host complex microbial communities, faithfully simulating human guts. Pathogens effects and even engineered therapeutics of live bacterial treatments (synbiotics) are tested in the chips to help down-select the best treatment candidates and dosing, including guiding the design of bioelectronic devices for on-demand interventions for deployed soldiers.  

Stakeholders in Development 

So, who would benefit from our technology development? Our suite of stakeholders includes defense medical researchers, operational planners, regulatory officials, and most importantly, our warfighters. The entire defense health organization gains a new data-rich foundation for risk prediction, resource allocation, and strategic intervention. Pharmaceutical partners, synthetic biology firms, and diagnostic innovators all stand to benefit from the rapid screening capabilities. Our advances will not only protect individuals but also shape the future of operational safety and medical science for the broader armed forces and society as a whole. 

Imagine giving warfighters access to a deployable microbial pharmacy capable of responding to harmful exposures in real time. Our technology enables us to model, test, and predict how these countermeasures will perform in the field, ensuring they are effective when they matter most.  

Why I Take Pride in This Work 

Our ability to combine microfluidics, machine learning, real-world exposure simulation, and multisystem data analytics into a Digital Avatar sets AV apart as a driver of innovation in military medical preparedness. By integrating living tissue models, real-time data acquisition, and predictive computational tools, AV is delivering a comprehensive, responsive solution that today’s complex threat landscape demands. This convergence of multidisciplinary expertise isn’t just a scientific achievement. It’s a direct and powerful answer to some of the most stubborn problems facing defense, readiness, and human health at large, problems I am proud to tackle as a scientist. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

An Ohio native, Dr. Rachel Hopton spent over a decade on the West Coast and earned her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Oregon. Her expertise is in intestinal stem cell biology and high-resolution fluorescent microscopy. At AV, she supports the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing studying multicellular gastrointestinal systems. Outside of work, she enjoys outdoor adventures in Southern Ohio with her family. 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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Thought Leadership

TWIX 2026: Proving the Power of Halo_Shield™

08/05/2026

Bryan Tisinger & Stephen Lloyd, AV 

Our team spent some valuable time at TWIX 2026, an event that brought together the U.S. Air Force, MITRE, DHS, the National Guard, and industry partners to solve real tactical problems in an operationally realistic environment at the Poinsett Electronic Combat Range, a 12,500-acre military training facility located in Wedgefield, South Carolina, near Shaw Air Force Base. 

AV’s role was to demonstrate our tile-based layered defense product known as Halo_Shield™ as well as our AI-powered software tool AV_Halo™. The assignment was to show how those tools could integrate with Air Force, Department of Homeland Security and National Guard systems but also enhance capabilities across Air Traffic Control (ATC), Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), and counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) missions. 

For AV, the event was deliberately structured as an interoperability trial. We pre‑deployed Halo_Shield in parallel with a next‑generation ground radar, with clear objectives: 

  • Define deployment requirements for future Halo_Shield sites, including GrandSky in North Dakota 
  • Collect real-world data from all sensors and actors to inform future development 
  • Demonstrate a layered, multi‑sensor/multi‑effector defense against realistic UAS threats 
  • Validate interoperability over the Air Force’s Unified Data Library (UDL) data framework 
  • Showcase integrated ATC, BVLOS, and C‑UAS operations with AV and USAF systems 
  • Distribute multi‑sensor data through emerging, government-led data sharing prototypes 

In practical terms, this meant deploying and operating sensors, effectors, communications, power systems, and AV_Halo™ COMMAND in field conditions while integrating them into a UDL-centric ecosystem of government and industry systems. 

HALO_SHIELD DEPLOYED AND FIGHTING 

The TWIX setup was not a benchtop experiment. It was a mobile, live, multi‑sensor architecture operating under range constraints, weather, and real flight activity. On the ground, the AV team deployed a full command-and-control suite, a mix of passive detection and defeat systems, acoustic panels, cameras, and supporting communications and power.  

AV’s Puma™ LE UAS served as our “blue” aircraft and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform, while an advanced ground radar provided additional sensing. More importantly, these systems demonstrated how a layered, integrated architecture, like Halo_Shield, can deliver greater capability than any single component alone.  

This is what Halo_Shield achieved at TWIX: 

  • Layered Defense: Used overlapping sensors to detect, track and classify threats while identifying the most efficient defeat option. 
  • Central Control: Combined all offensive and defensive tools, with clear views of options, system status, and threats.  
  • Resilient, Robust Communications: Brought offensive and defensive systems into a single operating picture with clear visibility into threats, available responses, and system status. 
  • Integrated Sensors:  Fused systems with built‑in health checks, so operators know what is online and can trust the operational picture. 
  • Interoperability:  Implemented secure, standards-aligned sharing for UDL and partner specifications, so tracks, alerts, and system status were easily exchanged. 

In short, Halo_Shield didn’t just “see” the airspace. It sensed, decided, acted, and shared, behaving as a warfighting defensive architecture regardless of hardware or software of origin. 

WHAT WE LEARNED: INTEROPERABILITY, AGILITY and RESILIENCE 

Our TWIX After Action Review highlighted three big wins that validate the Halo_Shield model. 

  1. Interoperability by Design

Halo_Shield demonstrated that it could publish and consume data using common, government‑backed standards. Tracks and detections flowed between AV systems, Air Force tools, and MITRE prototypes. Simulated and live air tracks appeared where they needed to, in air traffic views, counter‑UAS views, and integrated mission displays. The key impact: Halo_Shield did not operate in isolation. It contributed meaningfully to the broader command‑and‑control picture, showing that Halo_Shield can be dropped into complex environments and still “speak the same language” as other systems. 

  1. Rapid Deployment and Field Operations

Pre-integration work ensured that, by the first day of range operations, the full system was deployed, networked, configured, and operational. Throughout the exercise, remote sensor nodes were repositioned and reconfigured with minimal downtime, demonstrating the system’s flexibility in dynamic environments. For operators focused on Agile Combat Employment (ACE) or rapid base defense, that agility is critical. Our work at TWIX demonstrated that Halo_Shield™ can be deployed quickly, adapted in the field, and restored to full operational capability with minimal maintenance, precisely the responsiveness required for modern airspace defense. 

  1. Human and System Resilience

TWIX was not a perfectly controlled environment. There were range outages, weather shifts, and evolving coordination demands. The team adapted, but more importantly so did Halo_Shield.  

One memorable moment came when the team was asked, with roughly 15 minutes’ notice, to conduct a live AV_Halo COMMAND demonstration. Despite the compressed timeline, the system successfully showcased distributed sensing and generated meaningful discussions with stakeholders. As flight paths and ingest settings changed throughout the event, the team quickly retuned acoustic coverage and sensor configurations to deliver a clearer, more compelling operational picture. That ability to rebalance sensors, displays, and data flows in real time is exactly what operators need in the field. 

No serious field event is complete without lessons learned. TWIX surfaced several areas where we are now sharpening the Halo_Shield offering. We are strengthening our tools, processes and infrastructure from practical experience. We gathered input to make Halo_Shield more plug‑and‑play and reduce setup variability, with better tuning, better sensor fusion, and more relevant performance data. We continue to refine displays and user flows so that operators can understand the picture and act quickly under pressure, even when they are new to the system. These are not theoretical improvements. They are directly traceable to TWIX, and they are now informing how we design, deploy, and operate Halo_Shield. 

LOOKING AHEAD: The Next Integrated Installation at Grand Forks, ND 

The next major milestone is our integrated installation at Grand Forks, North Dakota. There, Halo_Shield will be tested in an even more demanding, operationally aligned setting. Lessons from TWIX are already being folded into the architecture, deployment plan, and operational concepts for Grand Forks, from network design and data flows to user experience and training. 

TWIX showed what Halo_Shield can deliver when it is deployed, networked, and integrated into a live command‑and‑control fabric. The forthcoming integrated install at Grand Forks will show the next step: a more refined, resilient, and operationally aligned Halo_Shield, built on hard‑earned lessons from the range.  

We invite you to come to Grand Forks. See the sensors and effectors in place. Sit in front of the live displays as detections stream in, tracks are fused, and decisions are accelerated. Experience firsthand how Halo_Shield operates as a repeatable building block for modern airspace defense and help shape what comes next. 

About the Authors 

Bryan Tisinger is a Program Director at AV, where he leads advanced airspace management and autonomous aviation initiatives supporting defense and commercial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. An aerospace engineer with more than 16 years of experience spanning NASA, the Department of Defense, and the aerospace industry, he specializes in integrating scalable command-and-control technologies that enable safe, secure, and adaptable unmanned aircraft operations. Tisinger is a recognized leader in advancing next-generation airspace management and accelerating the deployment of autonomous aviation capabilities. 

Stephen Lloyd is a Senior Director, C2 & Tracking Systems at AeroVironment, where he leads development of AV_Halo for air traffic control, BVLOS drone operations and counter-UAS applications. He retired from the Federal Aviation Administration after a 40-year career, having held senior roles in air traffic operations, safety management systems and the National Airspace System. A former chair of the FAA ATO Safety Committee, he collaborated closely with the National Transportation Safety Board and later joined the Air Force Research Laboratory SkyVision GBDAA team. His contributions have been recognized with awards including the 2019 ATCA Civilian Team Award and the 2020 AUVSI Excellence Award in Technology & Innovation. 

—— 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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Thought Leadership

Operation Jailbreak and What Comes Next for Defense Integration

07/27/2026

Scott Bowman, Chief Technology Officer & Senior Vice President of Global Engineering

The defense industry just received an early look at its own future, and it arrived under the banner of Operation Jailbreak, a U.S. Army hackathon that brought together hundreds of engineers across our industry to expose the gaps in sharing data across systems.  

What I witnessed firsthand at Fort Carson this spring was not just another interoperability demo; it was a proof point that open architectures and published APIs are moving from talking points to hard requirements. For the defense technology industry, the message is clear: integration can no longer depend on heroic, one-off events. It has to be designed into systems from day one.  

Building the Software Bridge  

The most important thing about Operation Jailbreak is that it was, by design, a bridge-building exercise. The Army asked industry to do something that has traditionally been painful and slow: connect legacy command-and-control (C2) architectures, autonomous systems, and sensors through a common, well-documented interface.  

For this sprint, that bridge took the form of a complete, published software interface:  

  • Synchronous REST/HTTP APIs for command, configuration, and status.  
  • Asynchronous event and telemetry channels over WebSocket or publish–subscribe patterns.  
  • High-performance gRPC/Protocol Buffers for low-latency, time-sensitive data exchange.  
  • Formal specifications, including OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, and Protocol Buffer definitions, that compliant platforms could consume without a closed-door integration effort.  

The AV_Halo™ COMMAND submission covered node discovery, telemetry, and flight actions across these protocol layers. During the sprint, AV_Halo COMMAND was used to connect the Switchblade® 400 from the Army’s Integrated Battle Command System – Maneuver (IBCS-M) without custom one-off integrations on either side.   

What It Signaled to Industry  

Operation Jailbreak made several points explicit. 

  • First, interoperability is now a design requirement, not a future enhancement. The Right to Integrate initiative sets the expectation that open interfaces, documented APIs, and Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) principles are prerequisites for participation, not optional differentiators.  
  • Second, the Army is shifting the burden of integration away from the warfighter and into the architecture. Army Chief Technology Officer Alex Miller has described the challenge bluntly: for too long, warfighters have been forced to serve as the integration point between disconnected systems. In an environment characterized by information overload, contested domains, and compressed decision timelines, that approach does not scale.  
  • Third, success will be measured less by the sophistication of any one system and more by how quickly that system can be integrated into a larger operational context. Army leadership has started to frame isolated, closed capabilities as a form of capability debt: impressive on their own but limiting when they cannot participate in a networked fight.  

The Army’s emerging API marketplace, and its intent to make published interfaces and MOSA compliance contractual requirements, formalize this direction. Defense software is beginning the same transition that commercial platforms made years ago: ecosystems grow around specifications, not claims of openness.  

A First Bridge, Not the End State  

It is important to recognize what Operation Jailbreak was, and what it was not. It was a focused event where government and industry deliberately built the software bridge between legacy and modern systems under a clear set of constraints and success criteria. That bridge was necessary, and it worked.  

But the long-term objective is not to hold recurring bridge-building events on every program. The objective was to encourage a different way of thinking: design future systems so that these bridges are inherent, not exceptional.   

Operation Jailbreak provided the testing ground for this new way of thinking.  Using specifications and disciplined architectures with modern APIs, integration timelines can collapse from months to days compared to traditional integrations using interface control documents (ICDs). Our own experience proved that to be true. AV achieved jailbroken status in just four days by integrating AV_Halo COMMAND’s open APIs, enabling status monitoring and high-level behavioral control from IBCS-M through AV-connected systems at the tactical edge. 

Operation Jailbreak should be remembered as the first proof point of the operating model to come, and this level of connectivity should be the expectation, not the exception.  

What Built-In Interoperability Should Look Like  

If industry gets this right, the next generation of systems will not require ad hoc software bridges to connect into the fight. Instead, they will arrive with published, machine-readable APIs covering the full functional surface area; support for multiple interface patterns aligned with real operational use cases; and security architecture designed from the outset for shared, controlled access.  

They will also include requirements and test cases tied directly to interface specifications and validated continuously, not just at milestone events. Equally important, they will be built for mixed, multi-vendor environments where collaboration is normal rather than exceptional.  

Operation Jailbreak showed what happens when engineers from different organizations work side by side with soldiers and acquisition teams to integrate real systems while solving real mission problems such as counter-UAS and battlefield data sharing. That level of transparency and shared problem-solving needs to move from rare to routine.  

The Path Ahead  

For my team here at AV, Operation Jailbreak did not force a change in direction; it validated a strategy already centered on openness, modularity, and rapid integration. AV_Halo was built around the belief that future missions will be defined by how well systems work together, not how impressive they appear in isolation.  

What Operation Jailbreak added was urgency. It clarified that the organizations that can integrate quickly, share data securely, and adapt software at operational tempo will be the ones that matter most on the modern battlefield.  

For industry, the path forward is straightforward: design for integration as a primary requirement, publish interfaces with the same rigor applied to core mission software, and recognize that value increasingly comes from how well a system plugs into the larger architecture. For government, the task is equally clear: continue pushing openness into contracts, reward architectures that reduce operator burden and integration time, and keep creating venues where real systems can be integrated, tested, and iterated with soldiers in the loop.  

Operation Jailbreak showed that when the right people, architectures, and incentives come together, the integration problem looks less like a barrier and more like a solvable engineering task. The next challenge is to make that solvable task the new normal rather than a once-a-year event. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Scott Bowman is AV’s Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Engineering, leading the company’s technical strategy and engineering organization. With more than 18 years of experience, he specializes in robotics, autonomous systems, software, RF systems, and open architecture technologies that enable interoperable, mission-ready uncrewed systems for defense customers. 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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Thought Leadership

2nd Marine Regiment Tests First-Ever Group 3 UAS Capabilities at the Conventional Level

07/22/2026

Posted to DVIDS

07.17.2026

Story by Sgt. Alexis French 

2nd Marine Division  

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. – Amidst the remote sands and sweltering heat of the California desert, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, embarks on the U.S. Marine Corps’ pioneer test of the JUMP 20-X equipped with the Switchblade 300 Block 20 at the conventional level during Service Level Training Exercise 4-26.

JUMP 20-X is a Group 3 unmanned aircraft system possessing capabilities of 12 hours in-air flight time, electro-optical infrared camera payloads, a 115-mile operational range, and up to 30-pounds of payload capacity—leading to one of Jump 20-X’s biggest assets: the Switchblade 300 Block 20, a loitering munition released from the undercarriage of the JUMP 20-X.

On July 16th and 17th, 2nd Marines experimented JUMP 20-X equipped with the Switchblade 300 Block 20 munition alongside developer, AeroVironment. In a groundbreaking success for the regiment, they accurately engaged a target 25 kilometers into the battlespace.

“[Switchblade 300 Block 20] can be launched, go into a holding pattern as you look for your adversary and you can directly fly some organic precision fires that are tube launched from Marines on the ground,” said CWO2 Christopher Leone, the 2nd Marine Regiment intel operations and fusion officer; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tactical controller. “For the JUMP 20-X experiment that we’re doing, AeroVironment has tested its capabilities to launch that same ground loitering munition from the belly of the bird itself.”

Incorporating the Switchblade 300 Block 20 into the battlefield gives the Marine Corps an additional loitering munition that organically incorporates with troops on the ground–similar to Organic Precision Fires-Light that is currently used by infantry units–and provides fires at the regiment level to engage the adversary.

“We at 2nd Marines are the first ones testing a Group 3 asset at the Regimental level,” Leone said. “[The Marine Corps has] the Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadrons 1, 2, and 3 that fly the MQ-9s in the Group 5 level of assets, but it would be great for the Regiment because we’re outside of the [air] wings. We’re supporting the Ground Combat Element that doesn’t have an asset that can fly as far as the Group 5, so this is something that hasn’t been tested before.”

2nd Marines realizes the positive impact this Group 3 asset will have in future operations as it provides capabilities not found in the Marine Corps’ other assets.

2nd Marine Regiment has only USMC Group 1 Program of Record in their arsenal to include the Puma AE, and quadcopters such as SkyDio X2D and Sky Raider, stated Leone.

With Group 1 assets having small duration flight times ranging from 30 minutes to an hour and a half and limited flight distance, the JUMP 20-X stands out for its longevity and ability to travel miles into deep battlespace.

“[JUMP 20-X] is big for us, and to fly it into the regimental deep space as we’re looking to shape fires in the environment for our battalions to keep moving towards the next objective–none of our current PORs that are Group 1 would be able to go that far,” Leone said. JUMP 20-X is a product of AeroVironment, who is also the producer of the Marine Corps’ Puma AE. Having that working relationship with the company, 2nd Marines reached out in February of this year, interested in their Group 3 capabilities.

“As the [2nd Marine] Regiment, this is the first conventional unit to at least test and do a combat research and development agreement with AeroVironment,” Leone said, referring to the predominant units working with AeroVironment being special forces across the Department of War. “We invited AeroVironment out here for our mid-planning conference, all in support of SLTE 4-26, and they agreed upon it and are in direct support of the regiment to give us this capability.”

As of now, 2nd Marines does not have any Small Unmanned Aircraft System Operators, MOS 7316, who have the training to fly Group 3 assets.

We’re trying to fix the lack of pilots for Group 3 through this week’s testing, experimentation and research, Leone said. Currently, MOS 7300 Marines fly the Group 2 Stalker and Group 5 assets.

Through learning side-by-side with AeroVironment contractors, who operate JUMP 20-X for the Marines at SLTE 4-26, 2nd Marines is confident that with their support through MDMX and MWX force-on-force later this August, they’ll be ahead of the curve in targeting the adversary–advancing the Marine Corps’ future of UAS capabilities deep into the ever-changing battlefield.

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Thought Leadership

Demystifying Directed Energy Starts at the Trigger

07/21/2026

Aaron Westman, Senior Director of Business Development at AV 

In his April 2026 comments to the House Armed Services Committee, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made an important point about directed energy.  

“The Department must reform its procurement processes, warfighting tactics, and policy limitations to ‘demystify’ Directed Energy weapons and facilitate their integration into the force structure,” he said. 

The recently reported directed energy demonstration at White Sands Missile Range shows that strategy starting to take share in real time. During the event, Secretary Hegseth took the controls of AV’s LOCUST® laser weapon system and defeated a drone within minutes after a brief introduction to the system. 

By directly participating in this kind of testing, Secretary Hegseth is doing more than observing another defense technology demonstration. He is helping demystify a class of weapons that many people still treat as futuristic, exotic, or experimental. For those of us who have spent years in this field, that matters. 

It also tells us something important about the weapon itself. 

Traditional air defense tests, especially kinetic interceptors, are rarely hands-on events for senior leaders.  

I’ve been a part of many of these events over the years and they are usually tense, highly choreographed, heavily instrumented exercises. Control rooms fill with engineers, range safety personnel, test directors, operators, telemetry specialists, and program officials.  

Everyone knows the stakes.  

A target is launched. Radars acquire it. Fire-control systems calculate firing solutions. An interceptor leaves the rail. Then everyone waits to see what happened. 

Senior leaders may attend. They may receive the briefing. They may watch the screens. But they usually do not pull the trigger. 

That is not a criticism of kinetic interceptors. It is the nature of the weapon.  

A missile shot is expensive, range-constrained, safety-intensive, and largely irreversible once launched. Before the test ever begins, there are extensive plans made around a potential misfire, a malfunction, or a debris event. The entire environment reflects the complexity and risk of putting a guided projectile into the air at high speed. 

What happened recently at White Sands, where AV’s LOCUST directed energy laser weapon system was fired by senior Pentagon officials, including Hegseth, represents a different paradigm. 

With directed energy, particularly AV’s LOCUST, senior leaders are not just watching an abstract engagement unfold on a screen. They can see the system. They can understand the engagement sequence. In some cases, they can directly participate in the act of operating the weapon by manipulating an intuitive XBOX™ gaming controller.  

Seamless integration of automation and artificial intelligence algorithms effortlessly guides the user’s hand to snap to the target. That is profoundly different from the traditional air defense test environment. 

And when you think about the drone threat, that difference matters. 

The unmanned aircraft threat is not terrifying because every drone is sophisticated. It is terrifying because so many are not. Commercially available drones are cheap, accessible, adaptable, and increasingly lethal in the hands of hostile actors. They do not require deep pockets, years of training, or a traditional defense industrial base to acquire and employ. 

That reality changes the problem. 

A threat that is cheap, numerous, and easy to use cannot be defeated only by systems that are expensive, scarce, and difficult to employ at scale. The countermeasure has to match the character of the threat. It has to be affordable. It has to be repeatable. It has to be trainable. It has to be safe enough to use in complex environments. And it has to be available when the next drone appears, not just when the magazine has been reloaded. 

That is where laser weapons, particularly AV’s LOCUST, are different. 

A directed energy laser weapon is technically sophisticated, but the engagement can be operationally intuitive. The system tracks the target. Engagement safety zones are tightly managed. The beam is precisely pointed. The effect is delivered at the speed of light. If the operator needs to engage again, the weapon can fire again. There is no interceptor to reload after every shot and no missile debris field to manage in the same way. 

These properties make laser weapons what I like to refer to as “unusually usable” for the C-UAS mission.  

And usability matters. 

It matters for training. It matters for confidence. It matters for safety. It matters for sustainment. It matters for cost. Most importantly, it matters for scale. A weapon that can be understood, trained, and operated repeatedly is a weapon that can move out of the demonstration lane and into the hands of warfighters. 

We’ve proven LOCUST in the field numerous times, including when we rolled it onboard the USS Bush and trained sailors who then shot down 100 percent of their targets after less than an hour of training. 

Having a laser weapon that is “unusually usable” also matters to the industrial base. 

Secretary Hegseth was clear in his posture statement that the Department needs a stronger and more consistent demand signal for directed energy weapons, not just for a handful of prototypes, but for production in meaningful quantities.  

That demand signal will not emerge if senior leaders, operators, acquisition officials, and policymakers continue to treat laser weapons as exotic technologies that only specialists can understand. 

Demand comes from confidence. 

Confidence comes from seeing the weapon work. It comes from understanding how it is employed. It comes from watching operators engage targets safely and repeatedly. And in some cases, it comes from experiencing the engagement first-hand. 

That is why the image of senior leaders engaging directly with directed energy is more than a photo opportunity. It is part of the demystification process Secretary Hegseth described. The point is not that dignitaries like firing lasers. Of course they do. 

The point is that they can. 

When a system like AV’s LOCUST can be demonstrated safely, repeatedly, and credibly in front of senior defense leaders, it shows that directed energy is no longer just a technology to be explained by specialists in a control room. It is becoming a weapon that operators can understand by using. 

For counter-UAS missions, that is exactly what the moment requires. 

The drone threat is scaling. The demand signal for directed energy has to scale with it. And before the Department can buy laser weapons in meaningful numbers, it has to become comfortable treating them not as mysteries, but as practical air defense tools. 

Demystifying directed energy does not start in a policy memo or a fancy PowerPoint slide; it starts at the trigger. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Aaron Westman is an engineer and leader specializing in counter-UAS and directed energy systems. He has played a key role advancing mobile laser weapon integration and operational deployment, supporting a variety of cross-domain capabilities that improve precision engagement and layered air defense. 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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Thought Leadership

The New Arsenal: Biology, Manufacturing, and National Security

07/15/2026

AV’s investment in Dayton is an investment in America’s biomanufacturing future to reduce dependence on China’s critical materials 

By Lucas Beagle, Ph.D., Senior Director of Advanced Research and Development Division 

With AV’s recent announcement of its $15 million investment in the Dayton area, we’re bringing online a 46,000‑square‑foot manufacturing facility in Xenia, Ohio, dedicated to advanced biomanufacturing that will support both commercial partners and the Department of War.  

AV has been advancing breakthrough technologies in the Dayton region for more than five decades, helping pioneer biomanufacturing capabilities that produce the critical materials needed to strengthen U.S. manufacturing, secure domestic supply chains, and enhance national resilience.  

To me, this expansion facility in Dayton represents a special moment that I have been building toward ever since I was a kid growing algae in vats in my parents’ garage and making a mess. I was convinced biology could power the next generation of breakthroughs in fuels and materials. But forty years later, I’ve learned that this isn’t just science; it’s national security. 

As this facility has moved from concept to reality, its strategic importance has become increasingly clear. In a world where China dominates critical rare earth supply chains and has shown a willingness to use that position as geopolitical leverage, rebuilding domestic manufacturing capacity is no longer optional. 

That’s why biomanufacturing appears on the Department of War’s critical technology list, and why it’s central to concepts like contested logistics, producing essential materials closer to where they are needed, under more challenging conditions. AV’s Dayton‑area investment is designed to help address these national needs. 

Why Biomanufacturing, and Why Now 

Over the last several years, we’ve learned some hard lessons about supply chains. COVID-19 exposed just how fragile our industrial base can be. More recently, global events have strained critical material supplies once again. We’ve seen firsthand that the United States is grossly “under-infrastructured” when it comes to biomanufacturing capacity.  

We’ve also witnessed China’s rapid rise as a dominant force in rare earth minerals and its willingness to leverage that advantage against geopolitical rivals. Just last week, Reuters reported that China began restricting exports of rare earths and rare-earth magnet precursors (terbium, dysprosium oxide, and yttrium oxide) to Japan, a move that could disrupt Japanese manufacturers supplying critical components to global semiconductor companies, automakers, and defense contractors. 

China currently accounts for an estimated 70% of global production of rare earth elements such as neodymium, dysprosium, and ytterbium. These are the very materials AV is working to produce at scale, helping reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources and strengthen the resilience of domestic supply chains. 

Industry partnerships, including the Defense Industrial Base Consortium and other public-private initiatives, are beginning to shift the landscape but significant work remains to build a secure, domestic rare earth supply chain capable of competing with China’s longstanding dominance. 

Biomanufacturing offers a fundamentally different way to produce the materials we need. We’ve used biology in production for a long time; brewing is one simple example. But we haven’t fully harnessed the power of precision fermentation: engineering microbes to produce exactly the molecules we want, at scale, and often more efficiently than traditional chemical processes can manage. As reactors get larger, the economics improve. The core challenge shifts to feeding and managing the bacteria, rather than wrestling with complex synthesis routes.  

What We’re Building in the Dayton Area 

At this new facility, we’re bringing online 1,200 liters of biomanufacturing capacity, along with matching downstream processing capabilities, and we’ve deliberately designed it for future expansion. Our goal is to reach military-relevant production volumes of key products from this site within about a year. 

We’re initially focused on three main product lines, with others in development:  

  1. Drop‑in biofuel replacement
    A biologically produced fuel designed as a drop‑in replacement for standard fuel, allowing us to integrate with existing infrastructure and platforms while reducing logistics risk.  
  1. Bio‑cementation for advanced construction
    A bacterial system capable of bio‑cementation of loose aggregate, using living systems to bind and stabilize materials. This can support construction or reinforcement of surfaces and structures in austere, resource‑constrained environments, with applications for both defense and civil infrastructure.  
  1. Proteins for rare earth element recovery
    A protein that selectively binds to individual rare earth elements in a mixture, enabling their separation and recovery. Rare earth elements are essential components of modern electronics and defense systems. Biologically enabled separation offers more flexible and potentially more sustainable recovery pathways. 

The facility is designed to serve as a higher‑throughput prototype‑level production site: a place where we can develop and prove technologies, then transition them to larger contract manufacturing organizations as demand grows, while continuing to produce meaningful quantities here in Dayton.  

Why Dayton, Why Greene County, Why Now 

We could have built this capability in a lot of places. We chose Greene County and the broader Dayton region for several reasons that go beyond proximity to Wright‑Patterson Air Force Base.  

First, this is not new ground for us. AV has had a deep commitment to Dayton and surrounding communities for roughly fifty years, building advanced materials and technologies for the government and the community at large. Over those decades, we’ve learned how to move novel materials from concept to production, and many of those lessons translate directly into biomanufacturing.  

Second, the Dayton region is logistically and structurally ideal. The Midwest is hard to beat when it comes to feedstock availability, transportation infrastructure, and space to build. Here, we have access to I‑70 and I‑75, rail, and water, everything you need to move inputs and products efficiently. We’re already seeing large‑scale fermentation facilities planned just across the border in Indiana, and we believe Ohio is still an under‑tapped opportunity in the broader bioeconomy.  

Third, the talent and ecosystem are here. The region has a highly trained workforce and a growing base of technical and industrial expertise. Proximity to Wright‑Patterson Air Force Base matters, but just as important is the broader ecosystem of engineers, scientists, manufacturers, and community partners that will help this facility succeed.  

This is not a one-time investment. We are working closely with local communities to grow a sustainable talent pipeline that supports the region’s long-term economic growth. 

This new facility will create 200 permanent jobs and an estimated $28 million per year in economic impact to the Beavercreek-Dayton region. 

Our partnerships with the University of Dayton, Wright State University, and Sinclair Community College are creating internship and workforce development programs that give students hands-on experience in advanced manufacturing, biomanufacturing, and materials science before transitioning into full-time careers. 

We are also investing in the next generation by partnering with local high schools to increase awareness of advanced manufacturing careers and inspire students to pursue opportunities in STEM and the skilled trades. Programs like DaytonMADE (Dayton bioManufacturing Awareness and Discovery Experience), our free immersive summer camp held at Wright State University designed to introduce local high school students to biotechnology and biomanufacturing. 

Years in the Making 

This project is the result of four to five years of sustained effort, not a recent pivot to a trending topic. Long before biomanufacturing was in the spotlight, we were traveling to Washington, D.C., and working with congressional representatives in the Dayton area to explain what biomanufacturing is, why it matters for our nation’s resilience, and why our team at AV is uniquely positioned to lead.  

We’ve had strong support from leaders including Congressman Mike Turner, and representatives at the county, state, and federal levels, as well as engagement from other states. Those conversations have been constructive and ongoing, helping build the policy and funding environment needed to make facilities like this possible.  

Looking Ahead 

We expect production to begin within the next year, with the first economic and employment impacts becoming visible over that same period. The 200 positions we’ve announced are permanent roles in the Beavercreek/Xenia area, not just temporary construction jobs, and we’ve designed the facility with expansion in mind.  

For me, personally, this is the culmination of a long‑held vision: using biology to produce fuels and materials in ways that are more resilient, more flexible, and better aligned with the nation’s strategic needs. If I could talk to that younger version of myself tending algae vats in the garage, I’d tell him two things: use better containers and keep going. The technology needed time to mature and so did the need for it. 

That moment is here now, and Dayton is at the center of it. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Dr. Lucas K. Beagle is a scientist and leader specializing in materials science, technology transition and biomanufacturing. He has played a key role in advancing and onboarding biomanufacturing capabilities and pipelining new technologies from AV’s fundamental research into innovative defense-focused products. 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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NATO’s Next C-UAS Challenge: Orchestrating the Alliance’s Defense Network

06/15/2026

By Zach George, Director of Business Development, C-UAS, AV Europe 

Over the past decade working in counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) across Europe, I have watched NATO nations make significant investments in radars, electronic warfare systems, kinetic interceptors, command and control networks, and advanced detection technologies to counter the growing drone threat. 

The Alliance has made tremendous progress. 

What I am seeing today is not a procurement challenge. 

It is an integration challenge. 

NATO nations have spent years acquiring world-class sensors and effectors. The next step is connecting those capabilities into a unified architecture capable of detecting, identifying, tracking, and defeating threats at operational speed. The war in Ukraine has highlighted this ability as critical.  

That challenge reminds me of a world-class kitchen. 

You can buy the finest ingredients, the best cookware, and the most advanced appliances available. None of that guarantees a great meal. 

What matters is orchestration. 

Someone has to bring everything together at the right time, in the right sequence, and for the right purpose. The meal needs a chef. 

C_UAS defense is no different. 

The Alliance already possesses many of the ingredients required for effective air defense. The challenge is ensuring they operate as a coordinated system rather than a collection of independent tools. 

That is exactly why AV developed Halo_Shield™. 

Halo_Shield is not another sensor or another interceptor. Designed from the hard-earned lessons and operational truths from Ukraine, it is the orchestration layer that connects sensors, effectors, operators, and command systems into a unified C-UAS architecture. It simplifies deployment, improves interoperability, and helps operators make faster, more informed decisions across increasingly complex environments. It is also a distributed layered defense, which enhances its autonomy and resiliency.  

As NATO strengthens its defenses against emerging drone threats, three operational realities are becoming increasingly clear: 

  • Civil and military systems must work together. 
  • Nations must win the cost exchange. 
  • Operators need more time to make decisions. 

Halo_Shield was built with those realities in mind. 

CONNECTING CIVIL AND MILITARY DEFENSE 

The drone threat does not recognize organizational boundaries, as seen in Ukraine and now in the Middle East. 

A drone targeting a military installation may transit commercial airspace, pass over civilian infrastructure, or threaten critical services that support both military and civilian populations. Across Europe, the first line of defense often includes private infrastructure operators, law enforcement agencies, border security organizations, and national militaries. 

During a crisis, these organizations must operate as one network, not as separate systems. 

Many NATO nations continue to face challenges integrating civil, commercial, and military capabilities into a common operational picture. 

Halo_Shield addresses this challenge through a modular, open architecture designed to connect disparate sensors, effectors, and command systems into a unified framework. Through AV_Halo™ COMMAND, military forces can rapidly integrate with existing national infrastructure, air traffic systems, and partner networks to create a more comprehensive and responsive defense architecture. 

The result is faster coordination, greater interoperability, and a stronger forward line of defense. 

WINNING THE COST EXCHANGE 

Drone warfare is not only a military challenge. It is an economic one that our NATO allies are witnessing being played out during the war in Ukraine and other conflicts. 

Many UAS can be fielded at relatively low cost. Defending against every threat with expensive interceptors alone is not sustainable during prolonged operations. These ‘swarms’ can and have overwhelmed point-based defenses. 

Halo_Shield helps operators make smarter engagement decisions by continuously evaluating available response options based on threat characteristics, engagement geometry, inventory levels, and mission priorities.  

The Terrestrial and Sentinel tiles integrate kinetic interceptors, electronic warfare capabilities, RF countermeasures, acoustic sensor, passive radar such as AV’s Titan® C-UAS platform, and directed energy solutions such as AV’s LOCUST® laser weapon system into a single decision framework and in a repeatable deployment pattern. 

A skilled chef knows when to use premium ingredients and when a simpler option will achieve the same result. So does Halo_Shield. It helps operators apply the right capability to the right threat at the right time, right-sizing the effect to the threat. 

THE RACE AGAINST TIME 

Every second matters in C-UAS defense. 

The earlier a threat is detected and understood, the more options operators have to respond successfully, also known as the “elongation of the kill chain.” 

This is where Halo_Shield extends beyond traditional C-UAS architectures. 

The CELESTIAL Tile provides wide-area intelligence that can identify threat staging, deployment, and launch activity well beyond the defended perimeter, creating earlier warning and additional decision space for operators. 

The AERIAL Tile extends sensing vertically, providing elevated coverage that fills gaps, improves track quality, and increases awareness across complex terrain and threat corridors. 

Together, these capabilities help move detection and decision-making further left, extending and automating the kill chain, giving our NATO allies more time to act before threats reach critical assets. 

THE HEAT IS ON 

NATO’s C-UAS challenge is no longer defined by a lack of technology. 

The Alliance already fields some of the world’s most capable sensors, effectors, and command systems. It continues to invest heavily in the technologies needed to counter increasingly sophisticated drone threats. 

The challenge now is integration.  

Success will depend on how effectively NATO can connect those sovereign capabilities across national borders, military services, and civil authorities to create a layered, scalable, and interoperable defense architecture. It is doing so at the operational and theater level with air defense, but now tactical C-UAS integration is needed. 

That is the role Halo_Shield was built to play. Ready to be validated at the NATO edge. 

Because the future of C-UAS defense will not be determined by who has the most ingredients. 

It will be determined by who can bring them together fastest when the mission demands it, with the flexibility to adapt to a changing threat and incorporate new technologies at the speed of relevance.  

And that is why NATO needs a counter-drone orchestration layer as much as it needs another sensor or interceptor. It needs the right pairing and balance.  

It needs Halo Shield.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Zach George is Director of Business Development for Counter-Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (C-UAS ) at AV Europe. A recognized expert in electronic warfare, air defense, and C-UAS operations, he has spent more than a decade working with military and defense organizations across Europe on integrated air and missile defense challenges. A transatlantic defense professional, Zach lives and works in Europe and continues to serve in the U.S. Naval Reserve, supporting missions throughout the European theater. He holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from American University and a Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University. He speaks English and German and is an avid sailor and skier. 

 

 

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MILESTONES AT WHITE SANDS, Driscoll’s Test, The FAA and DoW’s Landmark Safety Agreement

06/03/2026

Major paradigm shifts in defense do not announce themselves with fanfare. They show up as milestones. 

Last week, at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll climbed behind AV’s LOCUST®-powered vehicle and personally tested the Army’s directed-energy capability.  

To some, it may have looked like a routine demonstration. For those of us who have spent our careers advancing laser weapon systems, it represents something far more significant: a turning point. 

For AV’s LOCUST-powered AMP-HEL system, the event marks another step toward a capability that is operational, deployable, scalable, and increasingly real in the minds of the Army and the American public alike. Lasers are no longer a future concept.  

They have arrived. 

Around the same time, another milestone at White Sands quietly arrived with far less attention. 

On April 10, the FAA and Department of War signed a landmark safety agreement creating a path for counter-drone laser systems to operate in coordination with civil aviation. This agreement followed another LOCUST-powered milestone, when the JIATF-401 tapped AV’s laser weapons system for testing at White Sands to help create the framework for that agreement.  

That agreement establishes where lasers can be used, how operators avoid conflicts with aircraft, and how these systems can be deployed safely and predictably.  

That might sound bureaucratic. It is not. 

Together, those tests at White Sands, both Driscoll’s turn on the X-Box style controller and the FAA agreement, point to something larger: laser weapons are beginning to move from research and development to operational reality in broad daylight and on a wider scale. 

And history suggests this moment matters. 

America Wins When It Moves Technology Into Use 

The United States has always excelled at invention. But invention alone has never been the advantage. 

The internet emerged from defense-backed research. The space race created technologies that became foundational to the modern economy, from GPS to satellite communications. In every case, the pattern was the same: innovation mattered because America applied it, tested it, improved it, and scaled it. 

Which brings us to lasers. 

For years, the biggest obstacle to counter-drone laser systems was not the technology itself. It was the question of how to safely operate these systems in shared airspace. 

Since lasers interact directly with the atmosphere, legitimate concerns about aviation safety, sensor interference, and unintended exposure slowed broader operational use. 

That is why the FAA agreement matters so much. It represents a shift in the conversation from Can we make this technology work? to Can we deploy and scale it safely?  

And that shift is everything. 

The Jenny Lesson 

History offers a useful comparison. 

Most people assume American aviation dominance began with the Wright brothers. In truth, progress stalled after the Wright Flyer and Europe surged ahead. 

The turning point was not another invention. It was use. 

The Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny,” a relatively simple aircraft, flew real missions during General John J. Pershing’s expedition against Pancho Villa along the Southwest border. It was imperfect, but operational. And because it was operational, the United States gained trained personnel, institutional experience, and the foundation to scale aviation. 

By the time World War I arrived, America was no longer starting from zero. 

The lesson feels familiar. 

America invented the laser and has led directed-energy research for decades, from ABL and THEL to operational systems like LaWS. Yet, widespread deployment has lagged. We have proven concepts, but struggled to transition them into scalable capability. Meanwhile, competitors are moving quickly. 

Which is why these two moments at White Sands matter. 

When senior leaders are personally testing systems and regulatory frameworks begin to enable operational use, the conversation changes. The milestone is no longer scientific feasibility. It becomes operational adoption. 

What comes next is not another science project. 

It is demand. 

From Experimentation to Production 

A clear regulatory framework enables procurement. Procurement enables production. Production drives reliability, lower cost, stronger supply chains, and operational scale. 

This is how industries mature. 

Small drones are becoming cheaper, more capable, and more common. Homeland security, airspace protection, military installations, and critical infrastructure increasingly need affordable, scalable counter-drone defenses. 

Laser systems will not matter because they are novel, but because they become usable, trusted, and deployable. 

That is what milestones like White Sands and the FAA agreement may ultimately represent: the beginning of the transition from experimentation to production. 

The Window Is Open 

The United States still holds a strong position in directed energy, but history offers a warning: inventing a technology does not guarantee leadership in using it. 

Leadership comes from recognizing inflection points and acting on them. 

Driscoll’s White Sands test was a milestone. The FAA agreement was another. 

Neither milestone guarantees success. 

But together, they suggest something important: America may finally be building the conditions for laser systems to move from the lab to the field at scale.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Aaron Westman is an engineer and leader specializing in counter-UAS and directed energy systems. He has played a key role advancing mobile laser weapon integration and operational deployment, supporting a variety of cross-domain capabilities that improve precision engagement and layered air defense.  

JOIN THE AV MISSION  

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.  

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.  

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.  

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.  

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Thought Leadership

Why We Created MAYHEM 10—and What the Battlefield Now Demands

05/18/2026

By Brian Young, Senior Vice President of Loitering Munitions 

For most of the last two decades, the question in precision strike has been straightforward: can you find and hit the target? 

That standard didn’t just influence a category, it defined it. It laid the foundation for systems like Switchblade®, the weapon that wrote the loitering munition playbook and invented an entirely and way of thinking. 

But the battlefield has changed. 

Today, the challenge isn’t just hitting a target. It’s understanding what that target is, how it’s behaving, what else is happening around it, and then deciding, in real time, what effect actually makes sense. In many cases, destruction isn’t the first or even the best option. 

What we’re seeing now is a gap between how quickly threats are evolving and how rigid many systems still are. Threats are more dynamic, more distributed, and more difficult to detect. They operate in contested and denied environments, often without reliable GPS, and they evolve faster than traditional systems can adapt. 

At the same time, many U.S. and partner platforms remain locked into a single mission, configured and deployed with a fixed outcome in mind. Which forces operators to commit early, often before they have the full picture, and limits their ability to adjust when the situation inevitably changes. 

That’s the problem we set out to solve. 

We created MAYHEM 10 because the battlefield now demands flexibility at a level that hasn’t existed in this category before. It’s not just about delivering an effect, it’s about tailoring that effect to the threat, in real time, as the mission unfolds. 

MAYHEM 10 is the first system in a new product line built around that idea. At its core, it’s a multi-role launched effect designed to give operators options. Not just the ability to strike, but to observe, detect, disrupt, deceive, relay communications, and, when required, apply kinetic force. 

That may sound like a simple expansion of capability, but it’s actually a shift in how these systems are designed and employed. 

The key difference is that MAYHEM 10 isn’t just a munition. It’s an architecture. 

We built it as an open, modular system from the beginning. That allows us to integrate multiple payloads like EO/IR sensors, electronic warfare packages, communications relays, and lethal effects onto a single platform. It also allows us to bring in third-party software and autonomy much more quickly, treating capability more like an application than a fixed feature set. 

In practical terms, that means a single system can launch, navigate into a contested environment, detect signals, identify targets, and determine the appropriate response, all within the same mission profile. 

And importantly, it can do that at meaningful operational distances—on the order of 100 kilometers with up to 50 minutes of endurance, while maintaining standoff from the threat. 

Where this truly changes the equation is when MAYHEM 10 operates in a pack.  

There’s a lot of discussion right now around “swarming.” I think that term misses the point. What matters isn’t just putting more systems in the air. It’s creating coordinated, collaborative effects that actually solve the mission. 

With MAYHEM 10, we’re focused on collaborative attack and on systems that communicate, share information, and dynamically assign roles in real time. 

That allows a team of systems to operate very differently than anything we’ve seen before. 

One system might be focused on signal detection. Another might classify and confirm a target using onboard sensors and AI-enabled targeting. A third might carry the appropriate effect, kinetic or non-kinetic, and execute at the right moment. And because they’re connected through a secure mesh network, they can adjust roles as the situation changes. 

That’s the real advantage. 

It’s not just mass. It’s intelligent mass, where every system contributes to the mission in a coordinated way. 

That coordination also compresses the sense-decide-act loop. Instead of passing information between disconnected systems, decisions can be made within the network itself, at machine speed, while still keeping the operator in control of how autonomy is applied. 

This is especially important in contested environments. 

We’ve designed MAYHEM 10 to operate where GPS may be denied and communications are challenged. By combining onboard processing, alternative navigation approaches, and adaptable data links, the system can continue to function even as conditions degrade. 

At the same time, the architecture allows us to rapidly integrate new technologies as they emerge, whether that’s improved autonomy, better sensors, or more advanced electronic warfare capabilities. The system isn’t locked into what it was at launch. It evolves. 

That speed of adaptation is critical. 

If there’s one clear lesson from recent conflicts, it’s that timelines have compressed dramatically. Capabilities are evolving in weeks, not years. Systems that can’t keep up become obsolete quickly. 

We built MAYHEM 10 to operate on that timeline. 

It’s modular in production, which means we can configure systems late in the process based on mission needs. It’s designed for scalable manufacturing, ultimately reaching Low-Rate Initial Production by Fall of 2026 with the ability to scale to hundreds per month by the first half of 2027. And it’s built to accept updates in the field, so capability can continue to improve after deployment. 

At the same time, none of this matters if the system isn’t reliable. 

One of the most important lessons we’ve learned over the past 20 years is that reliability is a capability. It’s what allows you to scale. It’s what builds trust with the operator. And it’s what ensures that when a system is called upon, it performs exactly as expected. 

We’ve taken that foundation, everything we’ve learned from developing and deploying loitering munitions at scale and built it into MAYHEM 10. 

What we’re ultimately delivering is not just a new system, but a new way of thinking about this category. 

The future isn’t about single-purpose platforms. It’s about multi-mission systems that can adapt to a wide range of scenarios. It’s about software-defined capability that evolves over time. And it’s about coordinated systems that can operate together to create effects greater than the sum of their parts. 

The battlefield is only getting more dynamic. 

The systems that succeed won’t be the ones that hit the hardest. They’ll be the ones that adapt the fastest, coordinate the smartest, and deliver the right effect at the right moment. 

That’s why we created MAYHEM 10. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Brian Young is Senior Vice President of Loitering Munitions at AeroVironment, where he leads the company’s portfolio of precision strike and launched effects systems, including the combat-proven Switchblade® family and next-generation platforms such as MAYHEM 10. With more than two decades of experience in aerospace and defense, he specializes in advancing autonomous systems, scalable production, and mission-adaptable capabilities for modern warfare.  

He has played a central role in evolving loitering munitions from single-purpose systems into flexible, multi-mission solutions that support distributed operations across air, ground, and maritime domains. 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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Thought Leadership

The Strait of Hormuz is Showing us Why Mine Countermeasures Must Evolve for a Contested Maritime Fight

05/11/2026

By Chris Gibson, Eric Wirstrom, VideoRay, an AV company 

The Strait of Hormuz has a way of clarifying priorities. 

When maritime traffic slows, reroutes, or halts altogether, the global economy feels it almost immediately. Beneath the headlines about tankers and geopolitics is a quieter, more consequential reality: securing contested waters quickly and at range is becoming increasingly difficult. 

The problem with mine countermeasures (MCM) today is not that they don’t work. 

It’s that they take too long and requires operators to be too close to mines and adversaries. 

In a permissive environment, that tradeoff has been acceptable. In a contested maritime battlespace like the Strait of Hormuz, it is not. 

Some 20 percent of the world’s oil transits the Strait, and even small disruptions to the chokepoint ripple globally. America needs the tools to clear that chokepoint in the face of adversary opposition. The operational requirement is plain: before ships can move safely, someone has to clear the water. 

And today, that process is measured in time, risk, and proximity. 

Mine countermeasures have historically followed a sequential model.  

  1. Search wide areas.
  2. Identify potential threats. 
  3. Return to reacquire them. 
  4. Determine whether they are dangerous. 
  5. Neutralize them.  

It is a disciplined, proven approach, but inherently slow. Each step depends on the last. Each step introduces delay. 

In contested waters, time and proximity are risks.  

But there’s more to consider, like reach. 

Traditional MCM operations require ships, divers, and crews to operate in or near the threat area. Proximity to the threat limits how far operations can extend without escalating risk. 

Our predecessors thought to solve the MCM problem by increasing the speed of clearance, reducing time in threat envelope. We propose an alternative: doing it without having to be there at all. 

That is the shift now underway, and it’s how our team at VideoRay is approaching the future of undersea autonomy.  And it’s why we built our most advanced unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), like Mission Specialist Wraith. 

The future of mine countermeasures is moving toward a fundamentally different model: single-sortie detect to engage, or SSDTE. But this time we want to execute SSDTE over the horizon. 

Instead of breaking the mission into separate phases across multiple platforms, the objective is to complete the entire sequence, detection, identification, and neutralization, in one continuous operation using a system of systems. No return to base. No handoff between teams. No delay between finding a threat and acting on it. 

These are the keys to compressing time on station.  

Current autonomous capabilities push mine hunting beyond the 300 feet a human diver can operate to ROV-enabled missions at 300 meters, which improves identification and neutralization confidence and increases clearance rates while reducing risk to both mission and force. 

This is a key to extending operational reach.  

Together, these two shifts, compressing time and extending operational reach, change the equation entirely. What once required multiple missions and close human involvement can now be executed remotely, continuously, and at scale. 

But enabling this model requires solving a problem that has historically been taken for granted: communications. 

Traditional subsea operations rely on high-bandwidth, low-latency links. In contested environments, those links are often degraded, intermittent, or unavailable altogether. The legacy approach—an operator controlling a vehicle in real time—does not translate over the horizon. 

The solution is not simply better connectivity. 

It is greater autonomy — enabling a shift from Human in the Loop, where operators directly control semi-autonomous systems, to Human on the Loop, where fully autonomous systems execute the mission under supervisory oversight. 

Modern systems are being designed to operate with a level of independence that allows them to execute critical tasks without continuous human control. A vehicle can be deployed into an area, navigate to a target, and conduct inspection autonomously. It can then report back, allowing an operator to make a determination and authorize the next step, whether that is further investigation or neutralization. 

The human remains in control of the decision. 

The system takes on the burden of execution. 

This shift from manual control to supervisory control is what makes over-the-horizon operations viable. It allows missions to continue despite degraded communications while preserving the judgment and accountability that human operators provide. 

The result is a new operational model defined not just by speed, but by compressed time in the detect-to-engage sequence, delivering greater operational reach, reduced risk to mission and force, and higher confidence in clearance outcomes. This is not just an improvement in capability; it is a redefinition of presence. 

The operator no longer has to be co-located with the problem. The mission can be executed forward, while decision-making remains removed from risk. 

And critically, this model is not tied to a single platform or system. It is built as a system of systems—modular, interoperable, and platform-agnostic. The mission dictates the configuration, allowing different technologies to integrate and operate as a unified whole. 

That flexibility is essential in a domain where conditions change rapidly, and no single solution fits every scenario. 

While these advancements are being driven by defense requirements, their implications extend well beyond military operations. Offshore energy companies and subsea infrastructure providers face many of the same challenges: limited access, high operational costs, and risk to personnel. The ability to deploy smaller, autonomous systems from unmanned platforms offers a path to greater efficiency and expanded capability without the overhead of traditional approaches. 

In both cases, the trajectory is clear. 

Greater emphasis on outcomes over process. 

The Strait of Hormuz is not an isolated incident. It is a preview of a maritime environment where access is contested, time is compressed, and distance matters. 

In that environment, the advantage will not go to the side with the most manned assets in the water. 

It will go to the side that can act fastest, and from farthest away. 

Because beneath the surface, the problem is no longer just clearing threats. 

It is doing so without delay, and without being there at all. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

Chris Gibson is Chief Executive Officer of VideoRay, a subsidiary of AV and a global leader in underwater robotic systems. A more than 20-year veteran of the company, he has helped drive innovation in modular, mission-ready ROV technology supporting defense, offshore energy, and critical infrastructure operations worldwide. 

Eric Wirstrom is Vice President of Sales & Business Development at VideoRay and a former U.S. Navy leader in autonomous and remotely operated systems for diving, salvage, and explosive ordnance disposal, with deep experience shaping operational concepts, requirements, and resourcing for maritime robotics and subsea mission execution. 

JOIN THE AV MISSION 

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best. 

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve. 

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next. 

If you’re ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV. 

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Thought Leadership

We’re Fighting 2026 Drone Swarms with Cold War Architecture. It’s Time to Upgrade.

05/05/2026

Two S-Curves and the Counter-UAS Challenge: How Halo_Shield Was Built on the MAYA Concept

By Paul Webber, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Advanced Defense Solutions, AV

U.S. and allied partners have a problem: new and very real threats from a class of low-cost, autonomous, or semi-autonomous weapons that have disrupted traditional military advantages by imposing exponential costs on legacy Western defense systems. Recent media reports of Iranian Shahed-type attacks on U.S. radar facilities in the Arabian Gulf are but one example.  Shaheds cost tens of thousands of dollars, cheap enough to field at scale by most of adversary nations, and capable of delivering deadly effects. And the threat is worldwide; Russia has launched tens of thousands of long-range drones into Ukraine and are producing hundreds per day.

I’ve spent most of my career working with people whose job is to keep bad things from happening to Americans. For the past several years, I’ve architected counter-drone (C-UAS) solutions at AV. I’m paying attention to the technology paradigm shift in real time, where an S-curve that moves faster and scales wider is putting unprecedented strain on defenses built for a different era.

A useful way to understand this paradigm shift is to view the evolution of air defense as two separate S-curves (measurable growth over time) and recognize that today’s challenge is the growing mismatch between them.

S-curve #1: Traditional Air Defense

This model was designed to protect high-value assets from a limited number of high-end threats. It assumes centralized sensing and command and control (C2), time to build clean tracks, human decision management, and hard-kill interceptors to finish. Inside those assumptions, the traditional model works extremely well. The challenge is that its design assumptions don’t translate cleanly to the problem of mass adversary drones. A radar built to see large, predictable signatures at range is not optimized to find masses of drones with small radar cross sections hugging terrain as they approach our defenses.

The issue is not that the model failed. It did exactly what it was designed to do.

S-curve #2: The UAS Era and Distributed C-UAS

The UAS era flips the math, because low-cost platforms have been fielded at scale, with widely varying signatures, dynamic tactics, and coordinated deployment from saturation to swarming. The shift is not just in complexity, but in volume and velocity. The limiting factor is the speed with which a defense can detect, correlate, decide, and assign effects to mitigate those threats.

Which is where defenses break down.

Defenses don’t fail because they can’t defeat a drone. They fail because they lack counter drone capacity, because operators are saturated, decision timelines stretch, and expensive effects get consumed faster than they can be replenished.

It’s an architectural gap, not a technology gap.

From Problem to Architecture

America’s answer to mass cheap drones can’t be to stretch legacy systems further, which will be neither effector nor affordable. It has to be a rethinking of how we scale and build CUAS capacity.

At AV, that shift is taking shape in Halo_Shield™: a modular, tile-based, distributed C-UAS architecture designed for high-volume environments. Instead of concentrating sensors, decisions, and effectors at a single point, Halo_Shield distributes them across the battlespace. Each Halo_Shield “Tile” functions as a self-contained node, combining sensing, processing, and engagement capabilities at the edge, while contributing to a shared operational picture through AV_Halo, our AI-driven command platform delivering unified, real-time battlespace awareness and control.

This is a fundamental change in how defense is constructed.

Point defense concentrates capability, and it inherits limits. Distributed defense multiplies capability.

By dispersing sensors and effectors, Halo_Shield extends detection timelines, increases engagement opportunities, and builds depth into the fight, enabling attrition before threats ever reach a final engagement window. Just as importantly, it scales without creating new bottlenecks. Each Tile adds capacity, but not complexity.

Where Good Ideas Break Down

There is a hard truth in C-UAS.

Many capable solutions work in demonstration events but fail in deployment because their interfaces are too complex, integration with command-and-control architectures is too fragile, and data overloads operators and slows decisions.

Implementing MAYA: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable

As I continue to watch the S-curve paradigm shift, I keep coming back to a design principle of product innovation: MAYA, Most Advanced Yet Acceptable.

MAYA reminds us that having exquisite technology does not necessarily mean having efficient, effective fieldable systems. Especially in defense, the best solution is the one that can be trusted, trained, integrated, and fielded quickly and repeatedly.

Applied to C-UAS, MAYA means being advanced enough to compress the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) against scale and speed, while still acceptable enough to fit real operator workflows, rules of engagement constraints, and integration realities.

We’ve all seen the brilliant concept and working demonstration. And then reality shows up: the user experience looks like a cockpit built by committee, the integration requires sequential miracles, the sustainment plan is basically “good luck.” The operator does not trust it, and the system never scales past the pilot.

MAYA forces discipline: innovation must scale operationally, not just technically. And in C-UAS, MAYA is not just philosophy. It is survival.

We developed Halo_Shield around this philosophy.

What MAYA Looks Like in Practice

MAYA isn’t a slogan. It shows up in how systems are built, deployed, and actually used in the field. And the MAYA approach tends to share a few traits.

It starts with progress that can be measured, or stepwise capability growth. Real phases, real metrics, real learning, real measurable outcomes.

It requires clear human-in-the-loop boundaries. Automation should remove friction and compress decision time, not create mystery behavior. Trust is earned one engagement at a time.

It demands simplicity in the form of clean workflows that reduce screens and cognitive load. If the system requires a new operator for every new sensor, you did not scale the system. You scaled the staffing problem.

It depends on architecture that assumes change or what we call “Integration-first Architecture.” Sensors and effectors will evolve faster than legacy C2 cycles. The architecture assumes change as a feature, not a surprise.

Tiles Versus Point Defense: The Distributed Path to Scale

This is where the distributed concept comes in, and it is not as exotic as it sounds.

A traditional point defense site has multiple sensors and effectors applied from a single geographic location. It is usually governed by the sensor with the biggest sensing range and the effector with the longest effective range. This is a valid construct, but it also has a hard limit: finite weapons before reload, finite operator bandwidth, and a tendency to centralize decisions until the system itself becomes the bottleneck.

Distributed defense does not concentrate capacity. It multiplies it.

Halo_Shield’s distributed approach adapts a proven doctrinal idea, area air defense, to the UAS scale problem. We call a geographic area where sensors and effectors are dispersed and not co-located a “Tile.”

Each Tile has edge processing and a C2 interface to manage the mitigation cycle locally while still contributing to a broader operational picture. Tiles are modular by design, combining AV-recommended components with Government-furnished and third-party sensors and effectors, so customers can leverage what they have today and integrate new capabilities as needs evolve.

The practical takeaway is simple: distribution helps elongate detect, track, identify, and defeat to accelerate situational awareness and enable attrition in depth instead of only at the last second. You build Tiles around limited first S-curve air defense sites and increase total system carrying capacity without pretending one point defense site can do it all.

Passive Versus Active: Right Sensor, Right Time, Right Place

Active radar has a place in the mitigation cycle as well. But in a transparent battlefield with long-range precision weapons and shrinking sensor-to-shooter timelines, “radiate all the time everywhere” is not a survivability plan.

A distributed approach like Halo_Shield enables more low- or no-signature, multi-phenomenology sensing such as passive radar, acoustics, and distributable Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR), paired with edge computation that limits what must be transmitted to higher echelons.

That reduces bandwidth demand and lowers the risk that central nodes become both overloaded and targetable. It also aligns with first principles. A threat UAS must disturb air to generate lift and move. It must have physical form to carry the technologies that make it a threat. Radio Frequency (RF) detection is valuable when it provides high information value and can support pairing and scheduling, but it is not the only foundation. A signature-centric detection strategy creates an on-ramp for advanced processing and helps reduce latency in high-density environments.

The Bottom Line

This shift in air defense is not just about a new threat. It’s about new requirements: throughput, adaptability, and trust at scale.

MAYA is the discipline that keeps us honest. It forces a simple question: will this be fielded, used, and trusted when the sky gets busy, not just when the demo is clean?

Halo_Shield is the architecture that puts that discipline into practice: not a brittle, centralized stack that collapses under its own weight, but a distributed approach that can grow, integrate, and keep pace.

Together, they move us away from point solutions and toward something more durable: a distributed, scalable, operationally viable defense that delivers value on day one and stays relevant as the fight evolves.

And to be clear, Halo_Shield is not just an upgrade. It’s a shift in how we build defense in the first place, designed for the new S-curve and built to scale with it.

WHAT’S NEXT IN THIS SERIES?

In Part 2, Paul will unpack solutions to the modern C-UAS challenge, including phased introduction of an effective and efficient distributed sensing and effecting architecture, and how leaders can measure C-UAS capacity, and how to move quickly from demo to scale.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Webber is a retired Marine Raider and strategic advisor with two decades of leadership, special operations, and systems analysis experience. He blends operational insight with design thinking to tackle complex defense challenges, particularly in emerging domains like C-UAS. Paul holds an MBA from the University of Georgia, an MS from the Naval Postgraduate School, maintains a Top Secret-SCI clearance, and applies a human-centered lens to technology adoption and workflow design in defense environments.

——

ABOUT AV — JOINING THE MISSION

AeroVironment (AV) is a defense technology company with a mission to invent and deliver advantage to U.S. and allied militaries. AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed.

AV doesn’t just build defense technology; we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., we deliver breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From autonomy-enabled drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you’re ready to build technology that matters – with speed, scale, and purpose – come find your people.

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Thought Leadership

100-Percent: LOCUST’s First Day at Sea

04/28/2026

By Mary Clum and John Garrity

When most people picture a shipboard laser weapon, they likely imagine a massive, bulky system—welded into the hull and fixed in place.

That’s not what we brought aboard USS George H.W. Bush.

For a single day at sea, AV’s palletized LOCUST® laser weapon system was forklifted onto the flight deck, enabling a live-fire exercise that demonstrated its performance in real-world operational conditions. The system was powered from the ship, operated by sailors with less than an hour of training, and engaged every target presented. Every single target was destroyed. 100 percent success.

For the Navy, it was a first look at what our containerized, “roll‑on/roll‑off” laser weapon, LOCUST, can really do. For us, it was the payoff from years of work in directed energy—and a hint of where this technology is going.

From Bolted‑In Experiments to Roll‑On Capability

The Navy’s early laser efforts focused on high‑power systems integrated into the ship, hard‑wired into the hull and power system. Those programs taught us a lot, but they also revealed constraints: if the ship goes into maintenance, the weapon does too; if the laser needs upgrades, you work around the ship; moving capability between hulls is slow and costly.

Meanwhile, counter‑UAS was becoming a daily operational problem. The Army had proven that palletized, truck‑mounted lasers could consistently defeat small drones in harsh environments. The natural question was: could that same modular, field‑ready architecture work at sea?

AV’s mission? Prove it viable at sea.

Turning a Land System into a Sea System

On paper, we took a standard palletized LOCUST system—the same basic architecture used on land—and operated it from a carrier. In reality, we had to solve three sets of problems.

First, marinization. The LOCUST variant used on USS Bush was built on our Army fielded design, but carrier life demands more:

  • Hardened electronics for salt fog, humidity, vibration, and long deployments
  • Stabilization hardware to manage ship motion
  • Sealing and environmental protection so the system would be ready whenever it was needed
  • A laser weapon system that delivers precise, low-collateral effects—enhancing ship self-defense while minimizing risk to nearby personnel, platforms, and flight operations.

We implemented a series of hardware upgrades focused on these issues. Our software and tracking heritage, including work on the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy, or ODIN, meant the control stack already reflected decades of naval experience. The emphasis here was making a proven laser weapon reliable at sea, not reinventing it.

Second, roll‑on/roll‑off. The Navy has been clear: it wants containerized, movable weapons. On USS Bush, LOCUST was:

  • Forklifted onto the flight deck in palletized form
  • Positioned in a location that required pausing normal flight operations during the test window
  • Forklifted back off once the demonstration ended so the carrier could resume its standard tempo

We wanted to show that a high‑energy laser could arrive as a containerized asset, fight, and then get out of the way. That flexibility—roll on, roll off—is exactly what the Navy has been signaling in its public comments on containerized systems.

Third, safety and integration. However, bringing a laser weapon onto a carrier isn’t just a technical question. The Navy reviewed how the system would be brought aboard, powered, and operated safely alongside flight deck activity and other systems. Working through that set of questions created a path not just for this event, but for future containerized deployments.

One Day, 100 Percent Successful Engagements

The test window aboard USS Bush lasted one day. Within that day, three things mattered most: effectiveness, repeatability, and usability.

Effectiveness was straightforward. LOCUST targeted, tracked and defeated every single small unmanned aircraft target and defeated all threats flown. 100 percent success. For any counter‑UAS system, kinetic or non‑kinetic, a 100 percent success rate in live testing is notable. For a palletized laser operating from a carrier, it was a clear signal: the technology is ready.

Repeatability came from the laser’s basic economics. Every engagement consumed electricity, not interceptors. In a kinetic system, these defeats would have meant that dozens of interceptors would have been expended, with all the associated production, storage, and resupply burden. With LOCUST, the system drew power from the ship, recharged, and was ready for the next shot. On a nuclear‑powered carrier, that’s a natural fit: high‑volume defense without an exponential logistics tail.

The most important part, though, was usability. Roughly half the engagements were executed by sailors—from enlisted operators up through senior officers, including flag leadership. Training time was measured in tens of minutes.

Within about an hour of using the system, sailors who had never fired a laser weapon before were acquiring targets, working the interface, and making successful engagements. That’s what it looks like when directed energy stops being a lab project and becomes a practical tool.

What It Meant for the Navy—and for Us

For the Navy, the USS Bush demonstration answered key questions that need to be addressed as technology transitions from labs to the field. Most important of all, the demo showed that a containerized laser weapon can operate effectively from a carrier without being permanently integrated into the ship. The demo also showed the Navy that training for these new systems can be straight forward and quickly implemented for sailors.

For AV, this demo validated a design philosophy that has been guiding this program over the last five years: Start with a modular, platform‑agnostic architecture and leverage decades of naval tracking and control experience to harden the system for the environment and let real operators use it. In working with the Navy during this demonstration, valuable lessons learned were gained of how to make the next generation of LOCUST Laser Weapon Systems tailored for the Navy. It also underscored where the technology is going. Across the services, modalities, and environments, interest in directed energy—especially for counter‑UAS—is now reflected in budgets, not just briefings. The center of gravity is shifting from one‑off demos to production and fielding.

Looking forward, we are laser-focused (pun intended) on scaling LOCUST production to meet the needs while continuing ruggedization and spiral upgrades for long‑duration maritime deployments. This should help us to provide evolving containerized variants tailored for the Navy and partners in maritime environments.

Lasers in the Layered Defense

Directed energy won’t replace every other effector, and it shouldn’t. RF systems, guns, and kinetic interceptors are all essential parts of a layered defense and sea deployments are no exception.

But against high volumes of small, inexpensive unmanned systems at sea, a containerized, ship‑powered laser offers something unique: very low marginal cost per shot, effectively bottomless “magazine” tied to ship power, modular deployment across platforms, and rapid usability by sailors.

On USS George H.W. Bush, that combination translated into a simple outcome: a laser weapon rolled onto the flight deck, powered up, trained its first Navy operators, hit 100-percent of the targets, and rolled back off.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Garrity is an engineer and defense technology leader specializing in directed energy and counter-UAS systems. He has helped advance high-energy laser integration, fielding scalable solutions that enhance precision engagement, air defense, and layered protection across complex operational environments.

Mary Clum is a defense technology executive leading space, cyber, and directed energy initiatives. With more than 25 years of experience across AV, BlueHalo, and Raytheon, she has driven the development and deployment of advanced mission systems, guiding highly technical programs from innovation through operational fielding in support of national security.

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