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. Lockheed Martin has unveiled its contribution to this effort the MORFIUS X-Rotor. This system is an airborne High Power Microwave (HPM), counter‑drone system that can neutralise more than 50 enemy drones in a single flight.
Designed for field recovery and reuse, MORFIUS 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 LM This effort directly supports the U.S. Department of War’s 2025-2028 Rapid Response Counter-UAS Roadmap, as Lockheed Martin ensures forces have affordable, highly effective solutions when they need them most. They also claim that 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 our 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 minimizing collateral damage.
Arie Egozi
