This hydrogen-powered drone maker believes lasers could be the next big airborne weapon

This article is republished with permission from Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. On a modern battlefield defined by the ever-expanding “affordable mass” of cheap, disposable drones, Ben Levinson wants to build something that lasts. Levinson is the founder and CEO of Heven AeroTech, the Virginia-based maker of hydrogen-powered drones for long-endurance operations. In a recent interview, he described the company’s approach to drones as “a pickup truck mindset,” focused on reusable “mothership” platforms capable of stealthily hauling mission-specific payloads at extended ranges with minimal noise and thermal signature thanks to unique hydrogen fuel cells. And that, he claims, may prove an ideal platform for the airborne high-energy laser weapons that the U.S. Defense Department has pursued for decades. “We’re not in the laser space,” Levinson said. “But we actually are a platform for lasers.” Levinson traces Heven’s roots to his service as an infantry combat commander in the Israel Defense Forces in 2018 during a period of airborne arson attacks involving hundreds of incendiary balloons and kites launched from Gaza into I…