NUBURU is pushing into counter-drone systems using its blue laser technology. The announcement is small. The trend it represents is not.

Counter-drone has moved from a niche military problem to a structural defense procurement category in roughly four years. The trigger was the demonstrated effectiveness of cheap, commercially available drones in conventional conflict — most visibly in Ukraine, but also in multiple other theaters where asymmetric actors used consumer and modified commercial drones to create disproportionate tactical effect against much more expensive military systems.