Faced with the reality that drones are reshaping the modern battlefields in Ukraine and Gaza, the Pentagon has been tasked with finding a budget-friendly solution to eliminate these 'flying IEDs.' While missiles are too expensive, and laser beams are a distant dream, the next best cost-effective weapon US military officials are eyeing up could be electromagnetic pulse weapons to counter drone swarms.

According to the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) website, the US Air Force has published a contract opportunity for private industry titled "Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Defense Against Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)."