BAE Systems unveiled two counter-drone demonstrators for the US Army on 12 October 2026 at the AUSA annual meeting in Washington: a High Power Microwave system that needs no ammunition, and a Multi-Domain Artillery Cannon System, or MDACS, that fires guided projectiles at aircraft and ground targets. The company's announcement presents the pair as a layered defense for bases and maneuvering forces against saturation drone attacks.
The pitch is cost. "The threat environment is evolving faster than traditional procurement cycles can keep up with," said Jason Casciotti, vice president of BAE's weapon systems product line, adding that with the microwave system, "as long as there is power, there is defense."
Power instead of a magazine
The High Power Microwave is BAE's directed-energy layer. It emits a burst of microwave energy intended to disrupt the electronics of drones in its beam, which means it can engage a group of small aircraft at once rather than one at a time. BAE says the system is built from more than 99 percent commercial off-the-shelf components, which keeps the unit price down and removes the supply problem that follows every missile-based defense: running out of rounds mid-attack.
MDACS is the kinetic layer. The cannon fires a Hypervelocity Projectile, a guided round for air defense, and Scorpio-XR, a precision-guided munition for fixed and moving ground targets that BAE says doubles the range of existing 155 mm cannon-launched projectiles. The company describes the system as air-transportable, so it can deploy with the forces it protects.
Together, the two systems cover the problem that has dominated base defense since 2022: cheap drones arriving in numbers that outlast an interceptor magazine. Microwaves handle the swarm; the cannon handles the heavier or hardened target that a microwave burst will not stop. How those layers are stitched together with radar and command systems is explained in how layered air defense works.
Where the Army is in its own search
BAE's unveiling landed in the same week as an Army announcement that its xTechDisrupt competition had selected four finalists for $1 million each to develop medium-range interceptors, with a live demonstration planned for September 2027. That effort is separate from BAE's demonstrators, but it shows the same pressure: the Army wants a cheaper kill per drone and wants it integrated with the command-and-control and radar systems it already fields.
Both BAE systems are demonstrators. The announcement names the US Army as the intended customer but gives no contract, test results or fielding date, and the company has not said when either system will be shot against live targets in front of Army evaluators. For now, AUSA has added two named options to the counter-drone market, one of which makes a claim that no missile battery can: that it never runs out of rounds.