U.S. defense contractor AeroVironment announced it has received its first international direct commercial sale order, valued at more than $50 million, to supply its LOCUST directed energy counter-drone system to an undisclosed foreign customer.
First international LOCUST order. Over $50M.
Drone threats are growing in scale and complexity. Directed energy gives defenders a smarter way to keep pace.https://t.co/2b9mnf65ZY pic.twitter.com/9vCxk0doUm
— AV (@aerovironment) September 8, 2026
AeroVironment press release:
AeroVironment, Inc. (“AV”) (NASDAQ: AVAV) today announced it has received its first international purchase order for the LOCUST® Laser Weapon System. The landmark, first of its kind direct commercial sale (DCS) order, valued at more than $50 million, marks a significant milestone in the global adoption of AV’s directed energy counter‑drone capabilities.
The purchase order covers an initial delivery of AV’s mission‑proven LOCUST systems and associated support. The award follows AV’s recent selection by the U.S. Army for a $464.8 million Enduring-High Energy Laser (E-HEL) contract, representing the first-ever production contract for high energy laser weapon systems in United States history.
“This first international order signals increasing global recognition that high‑energy laser weapon systems are essential to modern air defense,” said Wahid Nawabi, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at AV. “The threat from low-cost drones is global and has fundamentally changed the economics of warfare. LOCUST gives our customers an affordable, scalable way to defeat drone threats at scale without relying solely on expensive interceptors.”
“This first international order for LOCUST is a pivotal milestone in our directed energy roadmap,” said Mary Clum, President of Space, Cyber, and Directed Energy at AV. “We are not only accelerating the fielding of an operationally proven laser weapon system, we are also establishing a foundation for sustained and expanded international adoption to provide layered innovation in counter‑drone defense.”
To support the growing demand for LOCUST, AV recently announced it is investing more than $30 million to expand its Albuquerque, New Mexico manufacturing campus, creating a vertically integrated production hub to scale domestic and international production of directed energy, space, and advanced defense technologies while also adding more than 450 jobs and generating over $670 million in economic impact.
In addition to this latest international award, LOCUST has helped drive first‑of‑their‑kind milestones for U.S. directed energy, from achieving the military’s first acknowledged laser kills on the southern border and defeating multiple drones from the deck of the USS George H. W. Bush, to successful integrations on Infantry Squad Vehicles and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles under the AMP‑HEL initiative and multiple high‑profile live‑fire events at White Sands Missile Range observed by military and defense leaders, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth who recently operated the system at White Sands.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of War have also signed a landmark safety agreement creating a pathway for LOCUST to operate safely in U.S. airspace, following FAA review of the system’s domestic deployment.
These achievements firmly establish LOCUST as one of the most operationally proven laser weapon systems in the American arsenal.
MORE ON LOCUST
LOCUST is an operationally proven high-energy laser weapon system that combines advanced sensing, tracking and directed-energy defeat capabilities against Group 1-3 unmanned aircraft systems and other aerial threats. The modular system supports fixed-site, palletized and mobile deployment and can integrate with multiple cueing sensors and command-and-control (C2) networks.
Recently featured on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, the operationally‑proven LOCUST laser weapon system delivers engagements for less than $10 per shot and provides sustained defense unconstrained by the reload limitations of traditional air defense systems, offering a truly transformative solution for modern air defense.
LOCUST serves as a central piece of AV’s Halo_Shield™ modular layered air defense platform, providing best‑in‑breed detection, surveillance, and directed energy defeat capability alongside AV’s Titan® C‑UAS system and Freedom Eagle™‑1 next‑generation missile. Halo_Shield is an interoperable, distributed, and layered system that detects, tracks, and defeats drones, swarms, and other evolving aerial threats.