Kord Technologies, LLC has secured a major milestone in defense technology with a newly patented weapon system for countering aerial threats. This innovation focuses on U.S. Patent No. 12281880, titled ‘High energy laser defense weapon system with automated uas detection and classification functionality’. The patent describes a high energy laser (HEL) weapon system for counter-UAS (C-UAS) use comprising a fully self-contained laser system including a power supply, thermal management, high-capacity batteries, and integrated radar and electronic warfare subsystems.

Outstanding Invention in Defense

This breakthrough technology has proudly been named Swanson Reed’s Patent of the Month for the Machine Die and Tool and Defense industry in January 2026. It earned this prestigious recognition because it represents an outstanding invention in the sector, successfully condensing complex power, thermal, and artificial intelligence-driven targeting systems into a cohesive, highly mobile, and self-contained counter-drone platform.

Meeting U.S. R&D Tax Credit Rules

The engineering and development behind Kord Technologies’ laser defense system strongly align with the IRS’s four-part test for the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit:

• Permitted Purpose: The research was fundamentally driven by the need to create a new, improved, and highly reliable defense weapon system with enhanced counter-UAS functionality.
• Technological in Nature: The development process was deeply rooted in the hard sciences, relying on physics (laser optics), electrical engineering (power distribution), software engineering (automated detection/classification algorithms), and materials science.
• Elimination of Uncertainty: At the beginning of the project, technical uncertainties existed regarding how to successfully integrate a high-capacity power supply, advanced thermal management, radar, and electronic warfare subsystems into a single, fully self-contained unit without causing critical overheating or system failure.
• Process of Experimentation: Overcoming these complex challenges required iterative testing, computational modeling, and physical prototyping to evaluate laser tracking algorithms, battery endurance limits, and radar-to-laser handoff mechanics.

3 Practical Applications Qualifying for R&D Credits

1. Developing AI-Driven Automated Target Classification Software:
   The engineering hours and resources spent coding, testing, and refining the proprietary algorithms that allow the system’s integrated radar and cameras to autonomously distinguish between friendly aircraft, birds, and hostile drone swarms in real-time.
2. Engineering High-Capacity Battery and Thermal Management Integration:
   The iterative design and prototyping of advanced cooling systems. This experimentation was necessary to prevent the high-capacity batteries and laser diodes from overheating during sustained, continuous laser firing in harsh, extreme environmental conditions.
3. Prototyping Radar and Electronic Warfare Subsystem Hand-offs:
   The system architecture design and field testing required to ensure seamless, millisecond-level communication between the electronic warfare jamming signals and the laser’s physical tracking mount to neutralize incoming targets efficiently.