The future of battlefield technology has arrived. A defense tech startup called Epirus has developed a system called Leonidas, which uses electromagnetic waves to take out drones or other equipment without firing a shot. Epirus co-founder Bo Marr explained the system on the American Optimist podcast. "Imagine, essentially a big version of a flat-screen TV on the back of a truck, that can create these very concentrated beams of energy," he said.
"We're shooting photons through the air, and when the photons hit the drone it creates such a strong electromagnetic field, that it creates an overvoltage scenario on the electronics itself," Marr continues.
Once the electronics are overwhelmed, they become inoperable. "It's kind of the best of both worlds, of a very precise beam like a laser...but then you can also widen the beam or sweep the beam to take out a large drone swarm," said Marr.
The Pentagon is currently testing the technology, but it may be a few years before it's fully in use. If that happens, this could be a game changer for the military when it comes to dealing with growing threats from Iran, Russia, and China. The good news is the system has no effect on people. However, it has even greater possibilities than use on drones. "Every piece of electronics we've tried it against, it has been successful," says Marr. "So we've take out GPS, we've taken out guidance systems, and we are actively doing research to assess the effectiveness against things like rockets."