From satellite internet to microwave weapons
The typical technology path is well known: first defense contracts, then the civilian market. Radar became a blind spot sensor in a car, satellite navigation became a map in a phone. ThinKom reversed this logic. For over two decades, the Hawthorne, California-based company has been making flat antennas for satellite communications—the same ones that distribute internet on board airplanes. In April 2026, it demonstrated a prototype based on these antennas. weapon, and in August received an agreement from the US Army with a ceiling of $49 million and initial funding for one prototype out of four.
The 49 million agreement: what's signed and what's not
ThinKom announced the deal on August 19, 2026. The customer is Program Manager for Advanced Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System Effects, abbreviated as PM ACE: the program division of Portfolio Acquisition Executive Fires, responsible for advanced counter-unmanned aircraft systems in the US Army. drones. It's also the Alecto customer. The form is Other Transaction prototype project, a prototyping agreement. Not a production order.
$49 million is a ceiling, not a purchase price. It sets the maximum for the entire agreement, but does not guarantee that the amount will be spent. Initial funding is allocated for one prototype out of four requested and includes field testing in 2027. The remaining three are dependent on subsequent decisions by the customer. There is also a discrepancy in the figure itself: Defense Daily cites the ceiling at $46 million, while ThinKom's public release states $49 million. The reason for the discrepancy is not explained in open sources, and the agreement number and the initial funding amount have not been published.
ThinKom supplies the emitter, not the standalone anti-aircraft system. The sensors, fire control system, and mobile platform are being specified by the government, and integration and evaluation are also being carried out by the government.
This is where the important distinction comes in. The company talks about fire-on-the-move—the use of weapons while the carrier is moving. In English-language headlines, this has become a defeat. drones "At full speed." However, neither ThinKom nor the military customer published the carrier's firing speed, and field trials of the Alecto are scheduled for 2027. The headline overshadowed not a fundamental capability, but rather specific field data.
The company unveiled Alecto itself on April 30, 2026, and developed it using its own funds. The initiative and funding came from the contractor, not from the customer's technical specifications. For the defense market, this is no small matter. At the time of the unveiling, neither the military order for Alecto nor the system's specifications had been publicly announced. The agreement followed less than four months later.
VICTS: How an Airplane Internet Antenna Got Weaponized
The core of Alecto is the VICTS lattice, Variable Inclination Continuous Transverse StubIn satellite communications, ThinKom applied it this way: the antenna's internal layers mechanically rotate relative to each other, and their positions determine the beam's direction. The result is a thin, flat panel without a rotating mirror, suitable for fuselage installation. In Alecto, the same principle directs short, powerful radio frequency pulses rather than a data stream.
The company calls VICTS a phased array, and the term is correct: mechanically changing the position of the internal layers creates the desired phase distribution, and therefore the beam direction. However, this is not a classic AESA, where the phase in each channel is changed by semiconductor electronics. With VICTS, the beam is guided mechanically.
This difference underlies the engineering rationale behind this choice. In August 2025, ThinKom announced the launch of high-power microwave weapons and reported that its arrays had withstood gigawatt-level peak power. The company did not disclose the mode, duration, or repeatability of these tests, and this statement applies to the arrays, not the finished Alecto emitter.
Next comes the engineering interpretation; the Alecto schematics are not publicly available. It turns out that mechanical beam steering offers a secondary benefit. In a classic AESA, high-power semiconductor transmitting modules are located in the aperture, and they must be protected from their own pulses; in VICTS, these are not present. This justifies the claim of simplified operation with high peak power. The solid-state electronics are still present in their entirety, and ThinKom cites high-frequency vacuum electronics as the source of the pulses themselves.
The solution's price is mechanical: moving parts mean service life, wear, and precision requirements. To operate while moving, the beam must be stabilized while the machine is moving along the ground. There is no publicly available data on the array's service life, aiming speed, or field durability. ThinKom also claims that Alecto significantly reduces weight, size, power consumption and cost compared to traditional HPM systems. — so much so that installation is possible on class cars Infantry Squad Vehicle and on ground robots. The army has not selected a carrier.
The company also claims "horizon-to-horizon" coverage and compliance with HERO, HERP, and HERF requirements. Both claims require qualification. The horizon-to-horizon formula indicates wide elevation coverage but does not disclose scanning limits and does not by itself imply 360-degree azimuth coverage; the layout of the complete system has not been published. HERO, HERP, and HERF are standards for the hazards of electromagnetic radiation for ammunition, personnel, and fuel, respectively. These are essential for a mobile system: the emitter operates near people and fuel reserves. ThinKom claims compliance, but the testing methodology and results are not publicly available.
What does impulse do and what does it not do?
A microwave pulse doesn't necessarily physically destroy an airframe. Its effects travel through the electronics, and the popular formula "fry the electronics" describes only one possible outcome. An intense radio frequency field induces currents and voltages in conductors, antennas, power lines, and printed circuit board traces; the results range from a brief glitch and restart to irreversible damage to components. The Army and the Congressional Research Service describe the effect as "disrupt, disable, or damage," which is more accurate.
Against a group of closely flying targets, such a mechanism can outperform a laser. Laser weapons typically require maintaining the beam on a single target until the desired thermal effect is achieved; an HPM emitter affects everything within its beam's range, without the need for lengthy tracking of each individual vehicle. The tradeoff is a decrease in energy density with range and, as CRS analysts point out separately, the fact that unprotected electronics of friendly forces can also be affected within the effective zone. This means that friendly assets must be shielded or spread out. A shielded target, on the other hand, may remain unharmed.
Alecto's stated targets are devices classified by the US Department of Defense as Groups 1 and 2.
- Group 1: up to 20 lb (9,07 kg), typically below 1200 ft (366 m) above ground level, speed less than 100 knots (185 km/h).
- Group 2: 21–55 lb (9,53–24,95 kg), typically below 3500 ft (1067 m) AGL, speeds less than 250 kt (463 km/h).
The upper limit of the second group—55 pounds—is separately confirmed by CRS. Classification, however, does not mean the system has been tested against all devices within these limits.
"Deep Ammo"—another formula from the release—requires a separate analysis. Impulse doesn't consume a separate ammo supply, so the cost per impact is potentially lower. rocket interception. However, the rate and duration of successive impacts are limited by the platform's available energy, the power and recharge time of the drives, cooling, the permissible pulse repetition cycle, and the source's resource. For Alecto, none of these parameters have been published. Neither have the operating frequency, range, beam width, impact time, kill probability, weight, or dimensions. There's no basis for compiling a performance specification table—only the architectural design is publicly available.
However, HPM doesn't eliminate the need for sensors and fire control. ThinKom claims that high power eliminates the need to know the drone's vulnerable frequency in advance—unlike narrowband jamming, which requires a communications channel. The target still needs to be detected, tracked, identified, and commanded. That's why sensors and fire control are specifically mentioned in the agreement.
Epirus, THOR, and Mjölnir: the lines in which Alecto fits in
Alecto isn't coming out of nowhere. The US Army began developing Epirus's IFPC-HPM in August 2022 under RCCTO prototyping authority; four prototypes were intended for field trials, and the first unit received the systems in February 2024. In April 2025, they were used during the Balikatan exercise in the Philippines—the first time in the Indo-Pacific and the first in the tropics. The system wasn't operating alone: detection, tracking, and visual confirmation were provided by the FS-LIDS suite, and the Army explicitly described the system as layered defense.
The Air Force has its own approach. The THOR demonstrator performed a simulated swarm attack in 2023, and AFRL referred to it as an early demonstrator. A follow-up was ordered in 2022 from Leidos: the Mjölnir prototype, for $26 million, using the same technology but with an emphasis on range, reliability, and production readiness. The wording is revealing: the primary challenge is recognized not as the physics, but as the ability to scale the system to production status.
The fate of the IFPC-HPM itself speaks volumes about the program's maturity. According to the GAO, the Army's total funding request for development for fiscal years 2022–2025 was estimated at $93,8 million. While the troop demonstrations have been completed, the program remains in the prototyping stage, and its transition to a permanent program office depends on Army leadership's decision to continue investment or terminate it. A successful HPM demonstration and a production weapon are two different things, and the distance between them is measured in years.
In this hypothetical diagram, Alecto is another parallel line, not the announced replacement for IFPC-HPM. No public document regarding the selection of ThinKom over Epirus has been found, and it's unclear whether Alecto will be a continuation of the army program, a competitor, or a standalone asset for maneuver units. The company's stated niche is clear from its own formulation: not the objective protection of a stationary point, but rather a convoy and a unit on the move.
In 2027, they won't be testing the fundamental capability of microwave interference—that's already known—but rather the specific implementation: motion guidance, power and thermal modes, reliability, electromagnetic safety, integration with sensors, and effectiveness against typical targets. Currently, the architectural design, an agreement with a $49 million ceiling, and initial funding for one of four prototypes are publicly available.
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