Laser show

An anti-drone laser system designed and built in Huntsville is flexing its muscle just down the road.

Why it matters: Worries about drone attacks are becoming ubiquitous, from large sporting events at home to the front lines of conflict overseas.

• How to efficiently, economically and effectively combat that threat is driving innovation like KBR's FIREFLY high-energy laser weapon.

The latest: The KBR team hosted media Thursday for a live-fire demonstration near Guntersville Dam, demonstrating an anti-drone option the company says is quickly gaining traction in the market.

Case in point: David Zoller, senior director with Kord-KBR (Kord is a subsidiary of KBR), noted 1,600 drones were detected during the recent World Cup, 750 of which were confiscated, and said that drones were once the domain of only near-peer adversaries but now they're becoming widespread.

• "Our adversaries are increasing their development of their capabilities at an alarming pace," he said. "We have to do the same thing."

How it works: The laser system, mounted on the back of a truck, tracked and took down a small quadcopter drone Thursday, though FIREFLY is powerful enough to take down the much larger Group 3 drones.

• On-board batteries carry 15 minutes of "laser-on time," said Jon Shepard, director of directed energy programs at Kord-KBR. It generally takes between 3-5 seconds to shoot down a drone.
• The system can be deployed in about 30 minutes, and Shepard said an operator can be trained and ready to go in as little as five minutes.

Driving the news: Erik Biebighauser, chief growth officer at KBR, told Axios the demand for these systems is definitely there, describing it as a "flood of interest" among governments, including Poland and Taiwan.

• He said KBR is in a rare, ready position to respond to that threat, having worked on this system for the past four years.

What we're watching: If that demand drives growth for KBR, Biebighauser said that growth will happen in Huntsville.