Fast Company reports that Heven AeroTech is pitching its hydrogen-powered drones as a possible platform for airborne high-energy laser systems, a concept the company’s founder and CEO Ben Levinson argues fits the aircraft’s long-endurance design rather than evidence that Heven itself builds laser weapons (Fast Company).
Levinson told the magazine that Heven is “not in the laser space” but sees its aircraft as a platform for lasers, framing the idea around reusable drone designs that can stay aloft longer and operate with lower noise and thermal signatures than more conventional options (Fast Company).
A long-endurance drone pitch
In Fast Company’s description, Levinson characterized Heven’s approach as a “pickup truck mindset” centered on reusable “mothership” drones that can haul mission-specific cargo over extended ranges. He attributed that concept to the company’s hydrogen fuel-cell setup, which he said helps reduce acoustic and thermal signatures while supporting longer missions (Fast Company).
That argument is also tied to a broader claim about drone design limits. Fast Company reports that Levinson said many existing power systems do not provide the energy density needed for prolonged operations, while noisier combustion or jet-based alternatives are a poor fit for defense and commercial uses that need lower signatures (Fast Company).
Within that framing, the laser discussion remains a proposed application. Fast Company writes that Levinson claimed Heven’s drones may be an ideal fit for airborne high-energy laser weapons the Pentagon has pursued for years, but the report does not show such a capability being demonstrated, bought, or fielded by Heven (Fast Company).
Origins in firefighting drones
Fast Company says Levinson traces the company’s roots to 2018, when he was serving as an infantry combat commander in the Israel Defense Forces during a period of airborne arson attacks involving incendiary balloons and kites launched from Gaza into Israel (Fast Company).
According to the report, Levinson volunteered to build a drone with a thermal camera to spot emerging fires and send firefighters GPS coordinates. A second version was designed to extinguish fires with a chemical solution, and Levinson later concluded that standard small camera drones were too limited for the kinds of work he envisioned ().
