It was a first for the RF-DEW directed energy weapon, with the UK MOD saying it had a "near-instant" effect on a swarm of small drones.

The U.K.'s Ministry of Defence said British soldiers had used an "invisible radio-wave weapon" to knock out swarms of drones for the first time. A type of directed energy weapon, high frequency radio waves wreak havoc on the critical parts of a drone, making the UAVs malfunction or career off course and crash, London said.