U.S. Army To Test Alecto Microwave System for Drones

The American company ThinKom Solutions has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to supply and test the Alecto mobile microwave system.

This was reported by the press office of ThinKom Solutions.

The maximum value of the contract is $49 million, and the initial funding covers the production of the first of four prototypes and its field testing in 2027. The goal of the project is to evaluate non-kinetic directed-energy technologies for countering unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Alecto system is based on the patented VICTS antenna, which allows the system to emit radiation while the platform is in motion. The system is designed to protect against Group 1 and Group 2 drones.

Group 1 covers the lightest drones weighing up to 9 kg (for example, FPV copters and light reconnaissance drones such as the DJI Mavic or RQ-11 Raven), while Group 2 includes UAVs weighing between 9 and 25 kg (such as the ScanEagle).

Thus, the Alecto system is designed to neutralize the full spectrum of the most common tactical drones on the battlefield.

The prototype will undergo a series of government trials, tests, and evaluations led by military experts. The results of these tests will determine the U.S. Army’s future decisions regarding the system’s potential adoption into service.