UK military wants lasers to stop drone swarms without running out of ammo
- ID
- 21401
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 04 Sep 2026, 4:30 PM
- Fetched
- 04 Sep 2026, 4:33 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/09/04/uk-military-wants-lasers-to-stop-drone-swarms-without-running-out-of-ammo/5294176
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 04 Sep 2026, 4:34 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- ai_ml_learnerssaas_founders
What happened
The UK Ministry of Defence has launched Project PANOPTES, a £5M ($6.8M) tender for an autonomous, vehicle-mounted counter-drone system, with first-stage submissions closing September 23. The MoD is particularly interested in Laser Directed Energy Weapons to defeat NATO Class 1 drones (up to 150 kg) against single, sequential, and swarm attack profiles, moving beyond a 2024 demonstration where a 15 kW laser on a Wolfhound truck neutralized targets beyond 1 km.
Why it matters
Marginal relevance for this audience. The autonomous operation requirement and the broader counter-drone market could interest AI/ML practitioners or defense-tech startup founders exploring government procurement, but the article is primarily a defense tender notice with no actionable technical detail for builders.
Discussion angle
Whether the counter-drone / autonomous defense procurement space is a realistic niche for Southeast Asian startups or AI builders, given the growing drone threat landscape and government interest in C-UAS tech.