By using quantum sensor-driven magnetic navigation, it can reportedly deliver positioning that remains resilient against jamming and spoofing.

According to the company, the tech strengthens inertial navigation, boosting accuracy by more than 100 times while eliminating long-term drift.

US Air Force assessments suggest that the current fleet of ten EA-37Bs may be insufficient for future needs, with internal studies indicating a requirement for up to 20 aircraft. As reported by Army Recognition, proposals to expand the fleet to at least 14 aircraft have already appeared in congressional funding discussions.

Italy has received approval to acquire two EA-37B mission system packages for integration into its Gulfstream G550 fleet, marking early international adoption. Additional interest is reportedly coming from allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

These eight systems are defined as providing a first operational crossing capability for a combined-arms tactical group equipped with Scorpion vehicles and Leclerc tanks, establishing a reference level for brigade-level maneuver operations. The program is therefore structured to restore autonomous wet-gap crossing capacity at brigade level while also contributing to divisional-level logistical crossings when systems are combined.

HELIOS has been integrated on Preble since 2022, and is currently the only Navy ship equipped with the system. Several other Arleigh Burke class destroyers have received lower-powered Optical Dazzling Interdictor (ODIN) laser systems. The Navy has installed more experimental high-energy laser directed energy weapons on other ships in the past.

Epirus presents Leonidas as a response to this shift by targeting the drone’s electronics rather than its communications. The company describes Leonidas as an electronic warfare platform capable of delivering “software-defined weaponized electromagnetic interference” to induce a full shutdown of critical onboard electronics. Unlike kinetic defeat, the effect is not based on impact or fragmentation but on forcing failures in the subsystems that keep the drone flying and navigating: flight controllers, power management, computers, and processors. This logic directly matches the fiber-optic challenge: even if the operator retains perfect control through the cable, the aircraft still depends on electronics that can be vulnerable to high-power effects.

Leonidas falls within the category of directed energy weapons based on high-power microwave (HPM) technology. Launched by Epirus in 2020, the system has evolved rapidly: a third-generation version was unveiled in April 2022 with software and hardware improvements claimed to deliver more than twice the power of the previous iteration.

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In this context, integration on the Stryker platform is particularly relevant: Epirus and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) unveiled a “Stryker Leonidas” configuration in October 2022 designed to support short-range air defense, and the ability to fit into a widely fielded vehicle fleet can accelerate deployment options.

While at maximum range the PL-17 is unlikely to be highly effective against highly maneuverable targets such as fighter aircraft, it serves a different and critically important mission for China: engaging high-value airborne assets, including AEW&C aircraft, aerial refueling tankers, and other large support platforms.

From Defense Express's perspective, attacks on aerial refueling tankers may represent the missile’s key mission. Without them, U.S. combat aviation would lose a significant portion of its effectiveness, including the ability to concentrate large forces in the air, conduct long-range tactical aviation operations, and sustain multi-hour combat air patrols.