Leonidas AGV, a robotic vehicle to shoot down drones without using bullets or missiles

Drones are becoming an increasingly complex problem to deal with in modern warfare, for multiple reasons.

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First, these are very cheap weapons, costing far less than the materials they are intended to destroy and also less than the projectiles often used to shoot them down. Furthermore, they can operate automatically, thanks to advances in computer science and particularly artificial intelligence. Moreover, they can operate in swarms, making them difficult to destroy with kinetic means (bullets or missiles).

Faced with this threat, the defense industry is looking for increasingly cheaper solutions (that avoid the rising costs of saturation attacks, aimed at making air defenses waste resources shooting down very cheap drones) and that are automated, just like the drones they intend to shoot down. This Tuesday, March 24, at the military fair AUSA Global Force organized in Huntsville, Alabama, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDELS), Epirus and Kodiak AI have presented the Leonidas AGV, a robotic vehicle whose purpose is to shoot down drones without resorting to bullets or missiles.

This vehicle combines the chassis of a Ford F-600 pickup truck, adapted by GDELS, with Epirus' Leonidas high-power microwave platform mounted on the back. To automate the drone defense process, the vehicle is equipped with an autonomous driving system with artificial intelligence, the Kodiak Driver from Kodiak AI. Yesterday, GDELS released this video demonstrating how this autonomous drone defense system works:

"Designed for autonomous critical point defense counter-UAS operations, Leonidas AGV can rapidly deploy to pre-planned intercept points or maneuver across a perimeter to protect critical assets from the threat of individual, swarm or fiber-optic controlled drone attacks", GDELS notes. "Leonidas AGV is well-suited for a range of missions, including defense of military installations, forward operating bases, airports, ports, energy infrastructure and major public events. "

The Leonidas AGV can operate in two modes: autonomous (with the vehicle operating automatically thanks to its artificial intelligence) and teleoperated, meaning controlled by humans. According to GDELS, the autonomous mode allows this vehicle to operate on various terrains, from paved highways to uneven off-road terrain: "The system’s modular architecture ensures reliable and safe movement in areas where human operation may be inefficient or unsafe. With advanced perception and autonomous navigation, Kodiak Driver allows Leonidas AGV to maneuver dynamically and maintain uninterrupted counter-UAS coverage in contested environments."

The Epirus Leonidas platform "delivers software-defined electromagnetic interference effects to precisely neutralize drone threats", according to a statement released by the three companies involved in the project. "Leonidas safely defeats individual drones and saturation swarm attacks without expending costly and limited interceptors, creating a resilient and low-collateral close-in defense layer for critical assets and infrastructure." This platform uses microwaves to literally fry drones. In addition to the Leonidas AGV, GDELS offers this same platform mounted on its Stryker armored vehicle and its TRX tracked autonomous vehicle.

Above, we see the perception sensor of the Kodiak Driver autonomous driving system, a scaled-down version of the SensorPods used by the company to make large trucks autonomous vehicles. This sensor includes cameras, a LiDAR (an active remote sensing system that uses laser pulses), and radar. From what we see in the video, these vehicles could be designed to operate together automatically, helping to cover wider areas without the need for a human operator. It will be interesting to see their results in the field.

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Images: General Dynamics Land Systems / Epirus.