Tel Aviv: The race to find the efficient protection against swarms of drones has accelerated due to their deadly effect in the wars in Ukraine and Israel. US Company Lockheed Martin has unveiled its contribution to this effort with the MORFIUS X-Rotor.
According to the company, this airborne High-Power Microwave (HPM) counter-drone system is designed to neutralise more than 50 enemy drones in a single flight.
MORFIUS X-Rotor, designed for field recovery and reuse, keeps a significantly low cost per kill, protecting defence budgets while maintaining relentless firepower. MORFIUS is sensor and command-and-control agnostic. Unlike other airborne counter-drone systems, MORFIUS does not require a unique sensor to command-guide to an engagement.
To move this breakthrough from the lab to the front line, Lockheed Martin is accelerating prototype production of MORFIUS and its HPM payload. The team is also planning the next series of flight tests, building on recent achievements in Arizona, California and Oklahoma, where it tested flight, intercept and lethality conditions.
According to Lockheed Martin, this effort directly supports the US Department of War’s 2025-2028 Rapid Response Counter-UAS Roadmap, ensuring forces have affordable, highly effective solutions when they need them most.
MORFIUS is the only ground-launched, field reusable airborne HPM system capable of delivering more than 50 drone kills per flight using any command-and-control system and no dependence on fire control radars – a true force multiplier for the defended asset and troops.
MORFIUS X-Rotor builds off past variants which have flown since 2017 and leverages the same family of HPM effectors, which have proven they can take down the hardest targets while minimising collateral damage. The system is uniquely suited for today’s modern battlefield challenges.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
