- A reusable microwave drone reportedly disables more than 50 hostile UAVs per flight
- Lockheed Martin pushes cheaper answers to increasingly dangerous battlefield drone swarms
- The Morfius X-Rotor counter-drone system enters testing after successful multi-state flight evaluations
Lockheed Martin has unveiled its Morfius X-Rotor counter-drone system at the 2026 Farnborough Airshow, calling it a low-cost answer to challenging drone swarms.
The ground-launched system uses a one-to-many high-power microwave, or HPM, approach designed to disable multiple unmanned aerial vehicles during a single mission.
Company officials say the platform can neutralize more than 50 hostile drones in one flight, a capability aimed at addressing large-scale swarm attacks.
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A reusable alternative to costly interceptors
The 2026 Farnborough Airshow has centered largely on affordable counter-drone technology as militaries confront growing swarm threats across the globe.
Lockheed Martin says the approach avoids reliance on costly guided munitions typically used to strike individual aerial threats one at a time.
Unlike traditional interceptors that are destroyed after use, the Morfius X-Rotor is designed to be recovered and redeployed following each engagement.
According to Lockheed Martin, the system is compatible with existing command and control networks and does not require a dedicated sensor or fire-control radar.
That design choice, the company says, lowers the barrier for integration across a wide range of existing battlefield command networks.
The system “sets a new benchmark for counter-drone capability — delivering a high kill rate while keeping the cost per kill low,” said Randy Crites, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Advanced Programs.
“By leveraging a lightweight, field reusable high-power microwave architecture, we provide the most effective, low-cost solution on the market today.”
Lockheed Martin also announced plans to accelerate prototype production of both the drone platform and its microwave payload for frontline forces.
However, it has not disclosed a firm timeline for when the system might reach full-rate production for its military customers worldwide.
Testing continues amid interceptor shortages
The Morfius X-Rotor recently completed flight testing in Arizona, California, and Oklahoma, where the system reportedly carried out interception missions.
Additional evaluation campaigns are scheduled for the coming months while engineers collect operational performance data before any broader deployment.
Lockheed Martin has not specified which branches of the U.S. military have expressed formal interest in acquiring the Morfius platform.
This announcement arrives as US forces seek cheaper alternatives to costly interceptors after depleting stockpiles against Iranian missiles and Shahed drones.
That shortfall has intensified debate over whether cheaper, non-kinetic systems like Morfius could reduce dependence on expensive munitions over time.
Lockheed Martin used the same event to introduce a lower-cost Patriot interceptor, part of a broader push to reduce per-unit defense costs.
Together, the two announcements suggest Lockheed Martin is betting heavily on affordability as a selling point amid tightening defense budgets.
Whether the Morfius X-Rotor can match its stated kill rate under real combat conditions remains unverified outside company-run trials so far.
Independent assessments of its effectiveness against dense, coordinated drone swarms will likely determine whether militaries adopt the system at scale.
Via Defense News
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