Bloomberg: Pentagon plans to spend at least $400 million on lasers to combat drones

The Pentagon plans to purchase at least $400 million in anti-drone lasers from AeroVironment Inc.

Bloomberg reports this, citing a source.

The US Army wants to acquire dozens of Locust systems — this system uses AI to track, identify, and help operators destroy small and medium-sized drones with a high-energy laser.

According to Bloomberg, the US military wants to master ways to counter UAVs amid the war in Ukraine and tensions over Iran. The statement also says that the US wants to deploy the drones themselves — the Pentagon is seeking to accelerate and expand their production.

In 2026, during a test of the Locust system, it accidentally targeted a US Customs and Border Protection drone on the Texas-Mexico border — and shot down the drone.

• The US is only at the initial stage of creating its own combat drone industry and is still significantly behind Ukraine in terms of production volumes. This year, Ukraine will produce 6-7 million small FPV drones — about 500 thousand per month. For comparison: under the US Drone Dominance program worth $ 1.1 billion, the Pentagon will order a total of less than 200 thousand drones by February.

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