--- title: The US Army used a laser weapon on American soil, then... description: AeroVironment won a $464.8 million US Army contract for its LOCUST X3 laser weapon system, described as the first production contract for directed energy... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-army-used-a-laser-weapon-on-american-soil-then-bought-it-i2xtozqzz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The US Army used a laser weapon on American soil, then bought it | daily.dev og:description: AeroVironment won a $464.8 million US Army contract for its LOCUST X3 laser weapon system, described as the first production contract for directed energy... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-army-used-a-laser-weapon-on-american-soil-then-bought-it-i2xtozqzz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/i2XtoZqZz.png og:image:alt: The US Army used a laser weapon on American soil, then bought it og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The US Army used a laser weapon on American soil, then bought it **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary AeroVironment won a $464.8 million US Army contract for its LOCUST X3 laser weapon system, described as the first production contract for directed energy weapons in US history. Days before the award, a 20-kilowatt prototype laser from the same programme was used to shoot down three drones near the Mexican border in Texas. The production LOCUST X3 is a 30-kilowatt system meant for mounting on tactical vehicles, targeting small and medium drones, and includes AeroVironment's own AI targeting software. The contract follows a new safety agreement between the Department of War and the FAA allowing domestic laser use, compressing the path from testing to deployment to procurement into weeks. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Israel MOD and Rafael Deliver First Operational High-Power Laser System](https://daily.dev/posts/israel-mod-and-rafael-deliver-first-operational-high-power-laser-system-abm8gkicf) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [UK eyes satellite laser shields, carrier-launched jet drones](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-eyes-satellite-laser-shields-carrier-launched-jet-drones-kq1ptkhhh) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [NATO needs layered defenses to deal with swarms of drones](https://daily.dev/posts/nato-needs-layered-defenses-to-deal-with-swarms-of-drones-sz4p6y5fy) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Microwave weapon downs 49 drones with a single blast](https://daily.dev/posts/microwave-weapon-downs-49-drones-with-a-single-blast-5geg0qavn) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#defense-tech](https://daily.dev/tags/defense-tech) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-army-used-a-laser-weapon-on-american-soil-then-bought-it-i2xtozqzz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The US Army used a laser weapon on American soil, then bought it","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-army-used-a-laser-weapon-on-american-soil-then-bought-it-i2xtozqzz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-army-used-a-laser-weapon-on-american-soil-then-bought-it-i2xtozqzz"},"datePublished":"2026-09-03T09:33:58.995Z","dateModified":"2026-09-03T10:48:06.595Z","description":"AeroVironment won a $464.8 million US Army contract for its LOCUST X3 laser weapon system, described as the first production contract for directed energy...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/78b6d9702a68c5f8f1b466922ddb3dbe?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/78b6d9702a68c5f8f1b466922ddb3dbe?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-us-army-used-a-laser-weapon-on-american-soil-then-bought-it-i2xtozqzz","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,defense-tech","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The US Army used a laser weapon on American soil, then bought it"}]} ```