The US military has little hope of staying cost-effective against drone-armed non-state actors while using conventional weapons. Lasers help level the playing field.

The Department of Defense recently confirmed that it had used a high-energy laser to shoot down three drones—presumably in the employ of drug or human traffickers linked to Mexico’s cartels—near the Mexico-United States border.

The news is significant because directed-energy weapons, better known as lasers, have spent decades being discussed as the future of air defense. But the recent shootdown marks an operational application. The use of lasers against drones especially makes sense, as drones are often too cheap and numerous to justify the expense of using sophisticated and costly air defense munitions against them. Lasers, once mature, can help to address the growing cost asymmetry of defending against drones—which have historically required expensive defense solutions, despite costing so little themselves.

How Cartels Use Commercial Drones for Smuggling

Cartels are increasingly using commercially available drones as a force multiplier in their cat-and-mouse game with US law enforcement along the border. The drones are occasionally used for smuggling themselves, but a more typical use is for reconnaissance; they can surreptitiously monitor Border Patrol and National Guard movements, locating gaps in surveillance and helping to coordinate cross-border operations. Basically, the drones give criminal organizations something that was once exclusive to militaries: persistent overhead surveillance capabilities.

This use is the result of drone commercialization, which has made reconnaissance tech accessible to just about anyone. Modern drones have a raft of features making them ideal for that purpose: stabilized high-resolution cameras, GPS navigation, live video, autonomous flight functions, and increasingly long endurance and range.

The next logical step, of course, is weaponization; Mexican criminal organizations have already demonstrated the ability to adapt commercial drones to carry improvised explosive payloads. Washington may soon need to address the cartels’ use of low-cost attack drones in addition to surveillance ones.

To confront this threat, the Pentagon has invested in AeroVironment’s LOCUST laser weapon family, which the Army has previously deployed for counter-drone work. The Pentagon claimed in its report that it had used the LOCUST, the primary weapons system aboard the “Army Multi-Purpose High-Energy Laser” (AMP-HEL) system, to take down the cartel drones.

The current LOCUST laser weapon offers about 20 kilowatts of power, but is expected to scale upwards. Right now, the tech doesn’t offer a true Star Wars-caliber blast. But the technology is becoming increasingly functional.

How an Anti-Drone Laser Works

A weak laser does not blast a drone apart mid-air, as one imagines in a science fiction movie. Instead, it defeats a drone by concentrating electromagnetic energy onto a tiny section of the aircraft and holding the beam there long enough to cause thermal damage. The laser typically targets sensitive parts of the drone, like the motor, battery, electronics, or structural failure points. If the laser generates enough heat, it can “fry” the targeted component, and then gravity does the rest.

The primary engineering challenge isn’t generating the laser itself, but controlling the beam onto a certain spot against a moving target. The focal point of the laser is an extraordinarily concentrated spot of light, fixed against a very small drone moving through the sky. The system therefore needs to combine the laser with radar and detection sensors, electro-optical and infrared cameras, precision tracking, automated fire-control software, and a stabilized beam director. 

This is all far easier said than done. The computer must continuously correct the aim while the target moves. Atmospheric conditions must be accounted for, too, as dust, smoke, fog, rain, and turbulence can complicate firing effectiveness. And therein lies one of the largest (and so far most insurmountable) disadvantages of laser use: weather can degrade performance. Similarly, targets must remain exposed long enough to achieve the destructive heating, which is not instantaneous.

Compared with missiles, the laser’s engagement range is still relatively limited. But while the technology has not been perfected yet, the promise of the concept is obvious: it offers a cheap, repeatable way to target an opponent’s cheap airborne mass without exhausting millions of dollars in sophisticated missile systems.

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a writer and attorney focused on national security, technology, and political culture. His work has appeared in Tablet, City Journal, The Hill, The Spectator, and The Cipher Brief. He holds a JD from the University of Oregon and a master’s in Global & Joint Program Studies from NYU. More at harrisonkass.com.

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