Epirus, a venture-backed startup offering a counter-drone capability, has made an undisclosed strategic supplier agreement with Northrop Grumman to provide exclusive access to Leonidas, Epirus’ software-defined electromagnetic pulse system, Epirus reported on Monday.
“UAS threats are proliferating across the modern battlespace,” said Kenn Todorov, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Combat Systems and Mission Readiness division. “By integrating the Epirus EMP weapon system into our C-UAS portfolio, we continue maturing our robust, integrated, layered approach to addressing and defeating these evolving threats.”
Northrop Grumman will utilize Leonidas to augment its kinetic and non-kinetic solutions to counter small drones. The Army recently selected Northrop Grumman’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control software (FAAD-C2) as the interim C2 system to counter small drones.
Epirus technology will integrate solid-state commercial semiconductor technology. The company’s offering can be adjusted to sanitize a volume of terrain or sky, creating a force field effect. Epirus systems will combine high-power microwave technology and artificial intelligence (AI) for enhanced targeting.
“We’re not just solving today’s swarm threat, we’re also looking to the future to understand how asymmetric threats will evolve,” Epirus co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) Bo Marr. “Epirus is an agile startup, Northrop Grumman has defense prime contractor resources, and through this partnership we intend to deliver the best technology to the warfighter as fast as possible.”
Epirus has continued to receive recognition for the company’s innovative technology. In Sept. 2020, Epirus won a Small Business Innovation Research contract from the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center as part of its AFWERX technology accelerator.
The contract was for the Epirus’ novel architecture for using commercial off-the-shelf field programmable gate arrays, which are semiconductor devices commonly used in electronic circuits, as ultra-wideband radio frequency transceivers.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an American global aerospace and defense technology company. With over 85,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military technology providers.