U.S. military deploys anti-drone lasers to guard Trump's Mar-a-Lago

The U.S. military has deployed high-energy laser weapons around President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of a counter-drone shield set up at the request of the Secret Service, a military spokesperson told the directed-energy news outlet Laser Wars. Laser Wars identified one of them in an Oct. 31 photo as a 20-kilowatt Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser, or AMP-HEL, and described the deployment as the first publicly known case of the Pentagon fielding a laser weapon to protect a sitting president. "At the request of the US Secret Service and under NORAD and USNORTHCOM authorities, NORAD and USNORTHCOM recently deployed ground-based air defense assets and Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System capabilities, including our C-UAS Flyway Kit and High Energy Lasers (HEL) in and around Mar-a-Lago, Florida. These assets add a complementary layer of technology to enhance protection," a U.S. military spokesperson said. The commands had already confirmed the wider deployment last week without naming the systems. Photos show U.S. Army Avenger air defense vehicles, each armed with up to eight Stinger heat-seeking missiles, positioned on a floating platform in Lake Worth Lagoon off the Mar-a-Lago shoreline and on the beach, The War Zone reported. The Secret Service has said Northern Command is providing counter-drone capabilities to support its protective operations. The AMP-HEL is built around AeroVironment's LOCUST laser, mounted on the Army's General Motors Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle or Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. It burns through small drones with a focused beam, and AeroVironment says each shot costs only a few dollars. The Army took delivery of the first AMP-HEL prototypes in 2025 and has since ordered a more powerful 30-kilowatt version, the LOCUST X3, under its first production contract for a laser weapon. AMP-HEL prototype. Photo by AeroVironment The Flyway Kit is a portable counter-drone package that Northern Command can move quickly to protect a site. The command's first kit, built by Anduril, uses radio-frequency sensors and jamming to detect and disrupt drones and interceptor drones to physically knock them down. Northern Command said in March that a kit had detected and defeated small drones operating over a strategic U.S. military installation in the first hours of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. campaign against Iran. The kit has also been used to protect public events, including the NASCAR race at Naval Base Coronado in June. U.S. Army soldiers operate an AMP-HEL laser system mounted on a JLTV near Rio Grande City, Texas, Aug. 31, 2026. A counter-drone laser was reported at Palm Beach earlier this year. In April, local television station WPTV confirmed that a device installed on a building near Palm Beach International Airport was a counter-drone system intended to protect the president, Mar-a-Lago and commercial aircraft. It is not clear whether that system is connected to the current deployment. The Pentagon has been expanding the use of lasers and other directed-energy weapons on U.S. soil. In May, a federal task force announced a pilot program to place lasers, high-power microwave systems and other directed-energy devices at five U.S. military bases to counter illegal drone flights, after Northern Command reported hundreds of drone detections over installations.