Powerus Guardian 3

History

The Powerus Guardian 3 is the third generation of the company's Guardian counter-drone interceptor family. The South Carolina-based defense technology company unveiled the system at the Association of the United States Army's 2026 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., held October 12–14, 2026. The company's earlier Guardian 1 was modeled after manually controlled Ukrainian drone interceptors, while the Guardian 2 introduced semi-autonomous operation that, when paired with radar, launches in the direction of a detected drone but still requires the operator to perform the final phase of the kill.

CEO Andrew Fox presented the system at AUSA. Co-founder and President Brett Velicovich described the development as a progressive transfer of tasks away from the human operator, stating that each Guardian generation has taken more of the load off the operator, with the Guardian 3 representing the next step in that approach.

Design

The Guardian 3 takes off vertically and hovers like a quadcopter before automatically pitching forward into nose-first cruise flight without pilot input. An operator authorizes the launch; after that approval, the aircraft manages its transition into cruise without continuous manual control. When cued by radar, the system launches in the direction of the threat and uses artificial intelligence and navigation systems to detect and strike the target.

The aircraft places its GPS receiver on the camera gimbal, an arrangement that keeps the antenna pointed skyward as the aircraft changes orientation during the transition to forward flight. Powerus uses ducted cooling for the electronic speed controllers to maintain airflow during both hovering and sustained full-throttle operation between flight modes.

Program Status

As of the October 2026 unveiling, Powerus has not disclosed the Guardian 3's technical specifications, operational capabilities, production timeline, or expected availability. The company stated it would share additional details at a later date. No operational deployments or operator commitments have been confirmed.