The New Mexico-based firm this week pulled the curtain back on Buckler, an interceptor designed to kill Group 3 drones — UAS weighing up to 1,320 pounds and flying below 18,000 feet at under 250 knots — for a cost of under $100,000 per unit.

Buckler is designed to knock out UAS at supersonic speeds, according to a company release, and is assembled with an airframe and propulsion system manufactured entirely at X-Bow factories, thus eliminating a production bottleneck that has plagued myriad high-priced systems reliant on multi-company components. Axios first reported about the X-Bow Buckler.

The unveiling at London’s 2026 Farnborough Airshow this week is the latest push by U.S. industry to solve an interceptor enigma that has become increasingly glaring as the nation’s war with Iran drags on.

U.S. troops in the military’s Central Command area of operations have continued to face the onerous task of leaning on exorbitantly priced interceptors to contend with Iran’s vastly cheaper, mass-produced Shahed attack drones.

The use of a single PAC-3 interceptor to knock one Shahed-136 out of the sky comes with a $4 million to $35,000 tradeoff, or a 114-1 cost-per-kill ratio.

“You can’t win a war of attrition trading million-dollar interceptors against thousand-dollar threats,” X-Bow founder and chief executive officer Jason Hundley said in a release. “Buckler has flown, it comes in under $100,000, and we build its airframe and propulsion ourselves — the part of the industrial base that is so stressed by today’s munitions demands. This is our answer to the call from the U.S. and its allies: affordable capability, at scale.”

X-Bow’s announcement comes after the firm’s recent test of the Buckler munition — one that derives its name, as TWZ noted, from a Medieval era shield — that demonstrated its propulsion and flight performance, the company announced.

Following a similar theme at Farnborough, Lockheed Martin on Monday introduced what it hopes will be another low cost per kill solution to the ever-evolving unmanned threat.

The defense giant this week introduced the Morfius X-Rotor, a ground-launched “one-to-many” airborne high power microwave counter-UAS system the company says can “neutralize more than 50 enemy drones in a single flight.”

Morfius is built, most notably, to be recovered and reused.

Lockheed also introduced a cheaper Patriot interceptor.

Such has been the case at London’s 2026 Farnborough Airshow, where Lockheed Martin on Monday introduced what it hopes will be a low cost per kill solution to the ever-evolving unmanned threat.

The Morfius X-Rotor is a ground-launched “one-to-many” airborne high power microwave, or HPM, counter-UAS system the company says can “neutralize more than 50 enemy drones in a single flight.”

Built, notably, to be recovered and reused, the Morfius is capable of using any command and control system and does not rely on any unique sensor or fire control radars, the company announced.

Morfius “sets a new benchmark for counter-drone capability — delivering a high kill rate while keeping the cost per kill low,” Randy Crites, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Advanced Programs, said in a release. “By leveraging a lightweight, field reusable high-power microwave architecture, we provide the most effective, low-cost solution on the market today.”

The company announced it is accelerating prototype production of both the drone and its HPM payload in the interest of getting it into the hands of frontline troops.

The system was recently flight-tested in Arizona, California and Oklahoma, the company stated, where it also demonstrated interception and lethal capabilities. Additional tests are slated in the months ahead.

Monday’s announcement comes as the U.S. looks to reduce dependence on cost-prohibitive interceptors to defend against cheaper munitions, a juxtaposition that has come under increased scrutiny as U.S. forces have quickly expended interceptor stockpiles to combat Iranian missiles and Shahed drones.

Lockheed Martin on Monday also introduced a cheaper Patriot interceptor as a potential off ramp to the reliance on exorbitantly priced interceptors.

Soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord cased the colors of the 1st Multi-Domain Task Forces Headquarters and 7th ID Headquarters Support Company and uncased the 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command-Pacific) Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion colors, in a merger that was first announced earlier this year.

“We are merging the operational endurance, flexibility and protection of our proven Stryker formations with the long-range sensing and precision fires of our multi-domain task force,” Maj. Gen. Bernard J. Harrington, the commanding general of the 7th ID (MDC-PAC), said in the Army release.

Central to the new command is what the Army calls the Cross Domain Contact Layer, a framework designed to connect intelligence gathering, electronic warfare and artificial intelligence into a continuous network.

It will combine sensors, drones, precision weapons and digital networks into a single architecture spanning land, air, sea, space and cyberspace.

“Through our emerging Cross Domain Contact Layer concept, our division will employ capabilities such as unmanned surface vessels; long-range, one-way attack drones; and launched effects to penetrate the adversary’s anti-access/area-denial network,” Harrington said in the release. “Every radar that emits, every node that transmits, every headquarters that commands, we aim to hold continuously at risk alongside our joint partners and allies.”

The change is part of the Army’s broader transformation initiative. According to the release, the redesignation reflects the service’s push to distribute advanced capabilities across maneuver formations operating in contested environments.

The redesignation builds on years of innovation in the Indo-Pacific, the Army said, including deployments by the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, or MDTF, and collaboration with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“These soldiers have invested wholeheartedly in experimenting, deploying, and employing capabilities that work from the heavens to the earth, from the air to the sea, and flow with all the digits that go in between,” said Col. Charles W. Kean, the 7th ID (MDC-PAC) deputy commanding officer-effects and former 1st MDTF commander. “It has truly been inspirational to watch them in action.”

The contract, which follows a framework agreement announced in January, will allow Lockheed to “deliver record numbers of combat-proven interceptors for American and allied forces this year,” the company announced Friday.

“Our investments in our facilities, workforce and supply chain ensure we can deliver at scale and with speed,” Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a release. “With the right tools, proven processes and skilled employees in place, we are positioned to deliver a record number of munitions in support of the warfighter and our allies.”

The PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement works by identifying and tracking a range of threats — using Boeing-made PAC-3 seekers — from ballistic missiles and hypersonics to hostile air platforms.

Once the seeker identifies the target, the highly maneuverable all-up interceptor round, which uses a two-pulse solid rocket motor, engages and eliminates threats via direct body-to-body contact.

Boeing earlier this month announced it had reached a framework agreement with the Defense Department to triple production of its PAC-3 seekers.

Lockheed’s framework agreement announced in January included a target of increasing annual PAC-3 interceptor production from approximately 600 to 2,000 over a span of seven years.

Recent contract announcements come as the U.S. military’s reliance on costly interceptors against cheap munitions, particularly those deployed by Iran during Operation Epic Fury, has come under increased scrutiny.

Contrast the $35,000 average cost of an Iranian Shahed drone with an estimated $4 million price tag of a PAC-3, and the cost exchange, if successfully engaged, is 114-1 in favor of Iran.

Despite the lopsided cost exchange, the Pentagon in March also announced a deal with BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin to quadruple production of infrared seekers for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor.

That deal aligns with a contract agreement in January between the Pentagon and Lockheed to quadruple the company’s annual production of THAAD interceptors from 96 to 400.

The sea service reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics, the company confirmed Tuesday, to deploy tech capable of streamlining repairs and reducing maintenance delays for a surface fleet that continues to be stretched thin.

The contract will begin as a 5-year, $54 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity deal that will soon see Gecko begin work on 18 ships assigned to the Navy’s U.S. Pacific Fleet.

To expedite what has in recent years become a headache for naval readiness, Gecko uses drones, wall-climbing robots and fixed sensors to gather data on components, decks, welds and hulls.

That information, paired with AI tools, is used to identify current and potential structural issues that may remain hidden to the naked eye.

“A single robotic evaluation and digital rendering of a flight deck eliminated over three months of potential maintenance delay days,” the company release stated about one such procedure.

These measures have expedited maintenance “up to 50 times faster and more accurately than manual methods,” the company added.

“Readiness isn’t just a metric, it’s all that matters,” Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko, said in the release. “This growing partnership is about unfair advantages Gecko is deploying to our Navy; and how prediction, through our robotics and AI products, ensure our brave men and women are the most advantaged in the world in their fight to defend freedom.”

In fall 2024, then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti unveiled a goal of having 80% of the Navy’s fleet ready to deploy at any given time by 2027.

Obstacles to reaching that goal materialized quickly, however, with a Government Accountability Office report in December 2024 highlighting a readiness rate among the Navy’s amphibious warfare ships of just 46% between 2011 and 2020. This rate, in turn, significantly hindered Marine Corps deployment and training plans.

In August 2025, that rate reportedly dipped to just 41%, resulting in a more than five-month gap in Marine Expeditionary Unit deployments that year and further straining resources amid the Trump administration’s push to counter the illicit drug trade in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The 80% plan, meanwhile, was picked up by Franchetti’s successor, Adm. Daryl Caudle, who called the rate “an ambitious but essential readiness goal.”

“Achieving this requires shorter maintenance cycles, increased spare-parts availability, improved training pipelines and targeted upgrades across the fleet,” Caudle wrote for Military Times in December.

“Readiness is not a budget line — it is a promise to the American people that their Navy will never arrive late to a fight.”

The Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS drone, was launched as part of Operation Epic Fury, which targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields, CENTCOM officials announced.

“The president ordered bold action, and our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, guardians, and Coast Guardsmen are answering the call,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, said in the release.

The LUCAS platform is a one-way attack drone reverse-engineered after the Iranian Shahed-136.

Built by the Arizona-based SpektreWorks, the drone, which can be launched via catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff and mobile ground systems, is a spinoff of the company’s FLM 136 target model, one designed for counter-drone training while simulating Iran’s Shahed variant.

The FLM 136 model carries a range capability of around 500 miles, with a maximum payload of 40 pounds, or “roughly twice the explosive yield of a hellfire missile,” according to Alex Hollings, host of Sandboxx News’ FirePower.

With a maximum takeoff weight of 180 pounds, the FLM 136 is significantly lighter than the Iranian Shahed. The platforms are also immensely more cost-effective — and scalable — compared to the more advanced munitions in the U.S. arsenal, carrying a price tag of around $35,000 per unit.

The U.S. Navy’s use of costly interceptors in recent years against Shaheds fired by Houthis into the Red Sea has prompted increased scrutiny of the cost trade-offs of such exchanges.

Iran’s stockpile of unmanned Shahed drones is immense, with the Islamic Republic reportedly producing 10,000 per month. Contrast the $35,000 average cost of an Iranian Shahed drone with an estimated $4 million price tag of a land-fired PAC-3 interceptor, and the cost exchange, if engaged, is 114-1 in favor of Iran.

And while the LUCAS drone is a strike munition, its deployment marks a considerable shift toward a cost-effective philosophy that could soon see cheaply-made interceptor drones, such as those being used to great effect in Ukraine, fielded by U.S. forces.

Soaring casualties in Ukraine, as well as lopsided military spending by Russia, have forced Kyiv to rethink its battlefield approach.

As of February, Ukrainian commanders say strike drones now account for 60% to 70% of all hits on Russian targets. Similarly, cost-friendly interceptor drones, some of which run as little as $1,000 each, experienced a 70% success rate in downing Iranian-made Shaheds in February.

The U.S.-made LUCAS drone, meanwhile, was successfully launched from a ship for the first time in December, with personnel aboard the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara carrying out an exercise in the Arabian Gulf, the Defense Department previously announced.

Those troops make up the newly formed Task Force Scorpion Strike squadron, a first-of-its-kind one-way-attack drone squadron led by U.S. Special Operations Command-Central personnel.

“This new task force sets the conditions for using innovation as a deterrent,” Cooper said in a December release. “Equipping our skilled warfighters faster with cutting-edge drone capabilities showcases U.S. military innovation and strength, which deters bad actors.”

The establishment of the task force in December followed a directive months earlier by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” to accelerate acquisition and fielding of affordable autonomous systems throughout the military services.

“To simulate the modern battlefield, senior officers must overcome the bureaucracy’s instinctive risk-aversion on everything from budgeting to weaponizing and training,” Hegseth wrote in the July memo. “Next year I expect to see this capability integrated into all relevant combat training, including force-on-force drone wars.”

The Navy’s operations in U.S. Central Command comprise around 2.5 million square miles of ocean and include the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

The report, released on Nov. 17, highlights security lapses across 10 DOD components linked to digital activity from personal and government devices, online communications and defense platforms that “generate volumes of traceable data.”

“Massive amounts of traceable data about military personnel and operations now exist due to the digital revolution,” according to the report, which highlighted ship and aircraft movements as examples of accessible information. “Public accessibility of this data enables malicious actors to exploit critical information and jeopardize DOD’s mission and the safety of its personnel.”

The report found that U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, U.S. Special Operations Command and every branch of the military failed to adequately address two critical areas — training and security assessments — for reducing the risk of digital threats.

Of the components assessed, only U.S. Special Operations Command was found to have consistently trained personnel about the risks of digital information in the public across all relevant security areas.

The report also found that eight of the 10 DOD components did not conduct threat assessments across the required security areas of force protection, insider threat, mission assurance and operations security.

The GAO goes on to illustrate how threat actors can steal public digital information about DOD operations and personnel, thereby posing operational and national security risks.

Information transmitted through press releases, news sources, online activity, social media posts and ship coordinates could, in theory, be used to project a vessel’s route and disrupt an aircraft carrier’s operations, the report states.

The GAO noted that three of five offices under the Office of the Secretary of Defense have issued policies and guidance on risks associated with public access to digital information.

Those initiatives, however, are too “narrowly focused” and do not include all relevant security areas, the report states.

The Defense Security Enterprise Executive Committee is “well-positioned to lead a department-wide collaborative assessment of policies and guidance on digital footprint and profile risks,” according to the report’s authors.

“Without such an assessment, DOD will have difficulty in determining whether risks are being sufficiently managed within the boundaries of their legal authorities,” the report adds. “Also, DOD will face ever-increasing threats to personnel privacy and safety, mission success, and national security.”​

The GAO report made 12 recommendations to DOD to assess its policies and guidance, collaborate to reduce risks, provide training on the digital environment along with its associated risks across security areas and complete required security assessments.

DOD agreed with 11 of 12 recommendations and partially concurred with one.

Among the recommendations in the GAO report are instructions for the service secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force to conduct “required assessments in the security areas of force protection, insider threat and mission assurance.”

The report also recommends that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth oversee the implementation of security assessments for the other listed components.

On Capitol Hill, Congress has echoed similar security concerns targeting the Defense Department. In an effort to mitigate national security risks, both the Senate and the House have introduced legislation in recent years with recommended provisions to protect the digital footprint of DOD personnel.

Part of the exchange, which matched up troops from U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, with personnel from the Angolan Military Health Division, sought to identify emerging, scalable tech capable of real-time language translation in what could one day be high-stress environments in which interpreters are not readily available.

As select personnel in the exchange trained on an array of medical procedures, others, like 1st Lt. Tucker Chase, a PAO assigned to SETAF-AF, worked on translations between U.S. personnel and their allies from Angola, a Portuguese-speaking nation in southern Africa that also boasts more than 40 local languages.

“Translation tools like these help us engage more directly with our counterparts and ensure their voices are accurately represented,” Chase said in a service press release. “We’re always looking for ways to improve how we tell the story of our missions.”

And improvements were indeed established. By the end of the exchange, which was conducted over the last week of September, soldiers had zeroed in on at least one translator app capable of processing smooth conversation by way of side-by-side — or face-to-face — displays without needing to hand the phone back and forth, according to the release.

Thanks to the technology’s hands-free, auto-translate function, communication between the allied partners continued to flow without interruption, the release said.

While not necessarily replacing human interpreters, that capability could prove vital in overcoming language barriers in the midst of what could be life-or-death situations.

“I would pull out my phone and open the app,” 1st Lt. Matthew Higgerson, a perioperative nurse with Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, said in the release. “We’d basically just talk regularly as if we’re having a conversation, then give each other time to read what was translated and continue talking.”

In another portion of the exchange, which was hosted on site in Angola’s capital city of Luanda, personnel were able to employ the translator tool during a joint medical press conference conducted by both nations.

Chase noted that the tech proved its value during that exercise, as well.

“It’s a practical solution when resources are limited,” he said. “It’s intuitive, fast and helps us maintain the authenticity of our engagements.”

Though it was brief, the exchange program marked one small part of an ongoing effort by SETAF-AF to stress-test military technology across the continent’s 54 sovereign nations, much of which is aimed assisting humanitarian emergencies.

Soldiers from 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team in September conducted the trial in support of the Army’s Transformation in Contact initiative aimed at modernizing armored formations for future conflicts.

Part of that ongoing effort includes familiarization with the Aerovironment-produced system, which has already been put to the test by a handful of Army units, according to a service release. The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, meanwhile, is among the first armored units to take the tube-launched, unmanned aircraft system for a spin.

“The Switchblade enables the brigade to engage targets with precision between five and 15 kilometers in front of our forward line of troops, extending our reach and lethality,” Capt. Jeffrey Weller, commander of the Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Troop, 2nd ABCT, said in a release. “You can feel the excitement in the air.”

The high-tech system is just one of many that the service is incorporating as it revamps how certain formations fight.

Weighing 75 pounds with a length of approximately five feet, the Switchblade 600 touts a Javelin multipurpose warhead, a range of up to 27 miles, a flight time of around 40 minutes and an explosive payload of five pounds, according to the release.

After being fired, the munition flies like a drone while an operator uses onboard cameras to identify and engage targets.

“Everything else I’ve flown has been for surveillance and target acquisition,” Spc. Drake Cross, a Switchblade operator who has previously worked on RQ-7 Shadow and RQ-28 Quadcopter drones, said in the release. “This is the first one where I can actually deliver a round. It’s exciting because it saves soldiers’ lives by hitting targets without putting us in danger.”

Cross and other operators completed a five-day training course alongside Aerovironment instructors prior to incorporating the system into the live-fire exercise.

With his prior experience on drone platforms, learning the system, Cross said, came pretty easily.

“Once you identify and lock onto a target, you can adjust right up until impact to make sure you’re hitting what you want,” he said.

Soldiers are slated to get additional practice on the system during an upcoming rotation at Fort Irwin’s National Training Center in California, Weller noted, adding that the continued training is a must in order to adapt to a constantly evolving battlefield.

“A huge thing the Army has seen across multiple battlefields, whether in Ukraine or elsewhere, is the rapid modernization and high usage of drones,” Weller said in the release. “The Army has to modernize to keep pace. Seeing systems like the Switchblade in action shows us the future of how our formations will fight.”

The drone attack, which U.S. officials said hit the Tower 22 outpost near Jordan’s border with Syria, is the first such strike that has resulted in U.S. fatalities after months of attacks against American troops in the region by Iran-backed militias.

The extent of injuries to the wounded personnel is unknown at this time. One U.S. official told Reuters, meanwhile, that numerous troops are being evaluated for traumatic brain injury.

In a White House-issued statement on Sunday, President Joe Biden said he was “grieving the loss of these warriors” and blamed the attack on “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”

“These service members embodied the very best of our nation,” Biden said. “Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty. Unbending in their commitment to our country — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism. It is a fight we will not cease.”

Biden added that the U.S. “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing.”

Tower 22, which had not been targeted in previous strikes by Iran-backed militias, is located approximately 12 miles south of the al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, where U.S. troops have maintained a presence to train partner forces as part of the campaign against the Islamic State.

The small installation, which Jordan does not publicly disclose, includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops. An estimated 3,000 U.S. troops are typically stationed in Jordan.

Sunday’s attack is the latest of more than 150 strikes that have been launched on regional bases housing U.S. troops since Oct. 17, shortly after the U.S. sent aircraft carriers, Air Force fighter squadrons and other troops to the Middle East following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Iran-backed militias have struck American military installations using a mix of drones, rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles. Scores of U.S. personnel have been wounded since October, including some who sustained traumatic brain injuries.

The attack Sunday was the first targeting American troops in Jordan amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the deaths of three of our U.S. service members and woundings of other American troops,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Sunday. “The president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests.”

The U.S. in recent months has carried out strikes against targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen in response to attacks on American forces in the region and as a means of deterring Iran-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Militias claiming responsibility for attacks since October have said the strikes are in retaliation for U.S. support of Israeli in its war in Gaza. Militant groups have also stated the attacks are intended to push U.S. forces out of the region.

The attack Sunday comes as U.S. and Iraqi governments are expected to soon begin discussions about the future role of U.S. troops in Iraq. In a Jan. 10 interview with Reuters, Iraqi prime minister Shia al-Sudani described the presence of 2,500 U.S. troops who deployed to Iraq in support of the mission to defeat ISIS as destabilizing. That rhetoric, however, has yet to yield any formal requests either to the Pentagon or White House, according to U.S. officials.

In accordance with Department of Defense policy, the identities of those killed in Sunday’s attack are being withheld until 24 hours after next-of-kin notifications.

Military Times reporter Meghann Myers contributed to this report.