Looks like Epirus is making its relationship with GD Land Systems into a throuple.
This morning, directed energy counter-UAS startup Epirus announced that it’s teaming up with General Dynamics Land Systems and ground autonomy hotshot Kodiak to build a mobile, autonomous drone-zapper called the Leonidas Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV).
The AGV will be equipped with Epirus’ signature Leonidas high-power microwave (HPM) system. For the uninitiated: instead of jamming, shooting, or hijacking small drones (including swarms and fiber-optic UAVs), Leonidas pretty much fries them from the inside with a burst of intense microwave energy.
Driving drone-downer: If you’ve been following the counter-drone market explosion, you’ve probably heard of Epirus, so we’ll get right into what the Leonidas AGV is all about:
- Epirus’ Leonidas HPM will be integrated onto the back of a commercial-grade truck, which operates autonomously using Kodiak’s AI-powered driving software. GD, for its part, will serve as the lead integrator.
- It offers a mobile counter-drone system that can maneuver without human intervention (or remotely) to pre-planned interception locations or for autonomous perimeter patrols.
- Epirus says it’s “well-suited for a range of multi-service missions, including JIATF-401 homeland defense applications to secure bases, airports, ports, critical infrastructure and major public events.”
Friends up high: This isn’t Epirus’ first team-up with GD. In 2022, the big-time prime and Epirus rolled out the Leonidas Stryker, a mobile c-UAS system that (you guessed it) put Leonidas on a Stryker, and last October, the Leonidas Autonomous Robotic (AR), which put Leonidas on a robotic ground vehicle.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, Leonidas AGV isn’t operational just yet.
“This is an initial proof-of-concept prototype developed by the three companies on our own dime,” Epirus told Tectonic via email. “We’ll continue to mature the system and demonstrate it to potential customers in the coming months.”
“The integration took less than four months, which speaks to the agility of companies like Epirus and Kodiak and the systems integration expertise of GDLS,” the company added. “With their industry-leading autonomy stack and expanding defense business arm, [Kodiak was] the right partner at the right time to add to Epirus’ + GDLS’ long-standing partnership.
Looks like two things remain true in 2026: Autonomy is king, and the prime-startup love-fest is still in full swing.