Earlier this week, Epirus ogłoszony the delivery of the final two of four Indirect Fire Protection Capability – High-Power Microwave (IFPC-HPM) systems to the U.S. Army, marking a significant milestone. Key milestones achieved through collaboration between Epirus, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO), and the U.S. Army’s Air Defense Artillery (ADA) community include the delivery of the HPM systems and the successful completion of New Equipment Training (NET) and Engineering Developmental Testing (EDT). These achievements pave the way for deploying IFPC-HPM capabilities to Soldiers to counter drones and drone swarms.
“We delivered our first IFPC-HPM system to RCCTO in November 2023, just nine months after our initial contract award, and finalized delivery of all four systems this March,” said Andy Lowery, Chief Executive Officer, Epirus. “Completion of NET and EDT puts the U.S. Army closer to fielding HPM operationally.”
Throughout April, EDT was conducted to evaluate the military utility and effectiveness of the IFPC-HPM system against UAS and UAS roje, encompassing a variety of increasingly complex flight patterns. This testing also provided soldiers from the unit slated to receive the systems an opportunity to operate this capability following the NET they underwent at their home station in March.
The data gathered during EDT will be utilized in the Army Test and Evaluation Command’s test report for IFPC-HPM. This report will be crucial in informing the Department of Defense’s decisions regarding the kontr-dron solution’s future programming, budgeting, and operational deployment.
“I’m thrilled with the effectiveness of our HPM systems throughout the test. We were able to demonstrate effects that we haven’t done in this close to a real-world environment, including coordinated fires for additional range and advanced waveforms for greater effectivity,” said Lowery. “We learned a lot about the importance of each system within the system-of-systems approach that will inform capabilities, limitations, and requirements. Most importantly, we’ve demonstrated that our HPM systems are effective for the kontr-dron and counter-swarm mission as a final protective fires solution within a layered defense.”
Post Image Credit- Epir
