Existing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detection mainly applies radar scanning as the main detection method and other sensors as the supplement, but the cost of radar is relatively high. As the device with low cost and low power, the laser has received widespread attention. In this paper, using the laser as a carrier and combining with the acquisition, pointing, tracking (APT) system in wireless optical communication, a UAV scanning positioning system based on laser detection technology was designed and implemented. The positioning accuracy of the system was tested by using a balloon test method. The scanning test results show that when the average power of the laser transmitter is less than 40mW, the target can be captured and positioned with a high accuracy with an error of lower than 5%, and the maximum detectable range is 45m.