The US Army watched its new laser weapon shoot down three drones near the Mexican border, then bought it in bulk.
In late August, the Army fired a high-energy laser at three drones near the border and downed all three. A week later, it signed a contract to buy the production version. AeroVironment announced Wednesday that it won a $464.8 million award from the Army's Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires. That's real money, and it followed the test by only seven days - fast by the standards of defense contracting.
Directed-energy weapons have spent two decades as a someday technology: expensive prototypes that rarely made it past demonstrations. A contract this size, signed this fast, signals the Army now trusts a laser system enough to fund production, not just more testing. It also puts laser air defense literally on the US-Mexico border, which is as much a policy statement as a technical one.
The Pentagon has promised laser weapons were imminent since at least the 2010s; this time there is a production contract to point to, not just another demo reel.