Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 85% certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Marr: Leonidas counter-drone microwave beam is safe for humans

Bo Marmon · Force Fields & Directed Energy Are Here! How Epirus Is Changing Defense Tech · Joe Lonsdale · Dec 15, 2021 · at 13:33

Epirus co-founder Bo Marr discusses the safety profile of the Leonidas directed-energy counter-drone EMP system with Joe Lonsdale.

0:00 / 0:00exact quote · 0.9s

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“It's safe for people.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

The microwave radiation emitted by Epirus's Leonidas counter-drone system is safe for humans.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Independent testing and military evaluation documentation confirm that Epirus's Leonidas counter-UAS platform meets human RF safety standards during standard operation. In testing conducted by National Technical Systems (NTS) in 2022 and updated in 2023, the system earned Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Personnel (HERP) certification, verifying that its non-ionizing solid-state GaN microwave emissions comply with military safety thresholds for operators and surrounding personnel via software-defined safe zones and designated exclusion buffers. The platform subsequently passed U.S. Army acceptance testing in November 2023 under the IFPC-HPM program. While direct exposure along the main bore-sight axis requires standard operational buffer zones to prevent thermal RF exposure, the system's operational architecture is verified non-hazardous to human health under standard operating conditions.

National Technical Systems (NTS) certified Leonidas for Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Personnel (HERP), validating compliance with military human RF safety criteria at operational and exclusion distances.
Leonidas emits non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation via solid-state GaN arrays and incorporates software-defined safe zones to shield operators and friendly personnel.
The U.S. Army RCCTO accepted initial prototype deliveries following successful government acceptance testing in Nevada in November 2023.

Checked against

[1] medium.com [2] wikipedia.org [3] epirusinc.com [4] microwavejournal.com [5] epirusinc.com [6] epirusinc.com [7] asme.org [8] navalnews.com

"Epirus" "Leonidas" "microwave" "safe for humans" OR "safety" "IEEE C95.1" OR "HERP" OR "hazards of electromagnetic radiation to personnel" "Epirus" "Leonidas" human safety RF exposure limits DoD testing Epirus Leonidas High Power Microwave human safety testing DoD RCCTO "Epirus" Leonidas "safe for humans" OR "safe to humans" OR "non-lethal" OR "RF safety" "Epirus" "Leonidas" "human safety" testing report "Epirus" "Leonidas" "NTS" OR "National Technical Systems" "HERP"

assessed as of 2026-09-05

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Epirus Leonidas

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Opinion

Marr: Epirus's Leonidas system acts like a force field for military bases

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Assertion Supported

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Assertion Not publicly verifiable

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Insight

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Assertion Not publicly verifiable

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“So we have demonstrated beyond a visible range. Like a good story I'll tell you is we, when we did our, one of our first field tests field demos, we had about a 70 customers come generals and so forth. It was a great event, and one of the biggest technical cha…”

Bo Marmon Dec 15, 2021 ▶ 14:48 Force Fields & Directed Energy Are Here! How Epirus Is Changing Defense Tech · Joe Lonsdale

Assertion Not checkable as stated

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Marr: Leonidas counter-drone microwave beam is safe for humans

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