The U.S. Is Reportedly Using Lasers Against Iranian Drones in Hormuz. Operators Aim Them With an Xbox Controller.
Thursday, September 24, 2026. The U.S. military has been using infrared lasers against Iranian attack drones and cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a New York Post report. The Department of War told the Post the tactic comes “at a much lower cost than using more expensive kinetic weapons like missiles,” according to the Post’s account.
The detail that traveled fastest is the interface. Operators configure the lasers with a modified Xbox controller, the Post says; CBS’s 60 Minutes described Locust’s interface as an ordinary one. “If you’ve shot a Spartan laser in ‘Halo’, you can probably fire [one of the cutting-edge weapons] in real life,” Jared Keller, author of the Laser Wars newsletter, told the Post. It is not a joke. It is the manufacturer’s own design, and the cost gap behind it is the real story.
- ~$3per laser shotAeroVironment CEO Wahid Nawabi’s figure for its Locust laser, on CBS’s 60 Minutes, March 2026.
- ~$4Mper Patriot missileNawabi’s figure for a Patriot interceptor, same broadcast.
- $20,000a low-end Shahed drone“As low as $20,000” per 60 Minutes’ reporting on Iran’s drones.
- $847Mprogram ceilingJoint Laser Weapon System agreements, $86M initial value — Department of War, July 9, 2026.
- $464.8MArmy laser contractAeroVironment’s Locust X3 award — DefenseScoop, Sept. 2026.
The report, as relayed by Fox News Digital and RedState, makes three claims: infrared lasers are being used in and around the Strait of Hormuz, targets include attack drones and cruise missiles, and the cost is far below that of firing missiles. Fox News Digital’s headline went further, saying the lasers are destroying Iranian “infrastructure.” Civic Intelligence found no Department of War or CENTCOM release that confirms Hormuz laser use or any infrastructure targets, so that part rests on the Post’s sourcing alone.
The wider picture is better documented. The Navy’s USS Preble, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer carrying Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS laser, was reported in March to have downed Iranian drones off Iran’s coast, per Euronews citing press reports and without a direct Navy confirmation in that article. The armed forces are clearly moving toward lasers. The open question is how far along the Hormuz use really is.
The Iran war has produced a cost-exchange problem the Pentagon cannot ignore. On CBS’s 60 Minutes in March, Wahid Nawabi, CEO of AeroVironment, said a laser drops the cost per shot “from $4 million a shot to less than $5 a shot. In most cases about $3 a shot.” He put a Patriot battery at about $1 billion and each missile at about $4 million. The same segment said Iran’s Shahed drones can cost as little as $20,000.
Those numbers come from the seller. Nawabi runs the company that builds the Locust laser, which AeroVironment prices at about $8 million a unit per CBS, and the $3 figure describes a single shot, not the price of the system that fires it. Even the Pentagon’s own technology chief concedes the caveat. Michael Dodd (Trump administration), Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies, said in September that “the cost per system is still high” even as “everyone is aware and tracking the inverted cost per shot.”
The controller is real and it is deliberate. On 60 Minutes, correspondent Lesley Stahl described locking onto a drone “by clicking an ordinary X-Box controller.” Radar spots the target, the operator locks on, and AI tracking keeps the beam on it. “That ability to track and take that overhead burden off of the operator,” said John Garrity, Locust program lead, “is the beauty of a laser weapon system.” The manufacturer’s pitch is that a gamer-friendly interface shortens training.
Senior leaders have tried it. AeroVironment says Army Secretary Dan Driscoll (Trump administration) climbed behind a Locust vehicle at White Sands in late May and used the “X-Box style controller.” On June 23, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Trump administration) and Under Secretary Emil Michael watched five directed-energy systems fire live at White Sands, per Defence Blog. The same evening Hegseth called the first Golden Dome milestone test a “full mission success” on X, writing that directed energy was “harnessed.” AeroVironment’s July 21 blog post, a manufacturer’s own account, says Hegseth took the controls of Locust and “defeated a drone within minutes after a brief introduction.”
Today, the first milestone test of Golden Dome for America (GDA) was a full mission success — and I was honored to witness it firsthand. Cutting edge directed energy was harnessed and the Dynamic Defense Autonomous Defeat (DDAD) system flawlessly and autonomously cued, targeted, …
The buying has begun. On July 9 the Department of War awarded two Joint Laser Weapon System agreements, to nLIGHT Defense and Lockheed Martin Aculight, with an initial value of $86 million and a program ceiling of $847 million. First prototypes are roughly 150 kilowatts, with 300 to 500 kilowatts to follow, meant to defend against cruise missiles and drones. Emil Michael said the department is “partnering with industry to rapidly deliver deep magazine directed energy capabilities.”
The Army separately awarded AeroVironment $464.8 million for its Locust X3, reported by DefenseScoop as the service’s first production laser contract, and committed to move onto the joint program by about 2028. DefenseScoop also reported that lasers have already been used at the U.S.-Mexico border against cartel-linked drones. Dodd said he plans to “knuckle roll the other services” into joining.
Confirmed by documents or on-record officials: the June 23 White Sands demo, the July 9 $86 million/$847 million awards, the $464.8 million Army contract, Dodd’s cost-per-system caveat, and Hegseth’s own post.
Vendor claims: the $3-a-shot figure and the Patriot comparison come from AeroVironment’s CEO, on 60 Minutes.
Reported by the New York Post, unconfirmed here: laser use against Iranian drones and cruise missiles in Hormuz, any “infrastructure” targets, and the Department of War’s cost statement.
The Pentagon has now awarded a $464.8 million Army laser contract and joint laser agreements with an $847 million ceiling to fix an exchange ratio in which a missile costing millions is used against a drone costing thousands. The Post says that fix is now in use against Iran in Hormuz. The contracts, the demos and the controller are documented. The Hormuz use is still one newspaper’s report until the Department of War says it in its own name.
