The U.S. Army is taking delivery of a 60 kilowatt-class laser from Lockheed Martin as the company wraps up demonstrations of the capability.
“In testing earlier this month, the Lockheed Martin laser produced a single beam of 58kW, representing a world record for a laser of this type,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
Lockheed was contracted to deliver the combined fiber laser for the Army’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or HEMTT, the largest vehicle in the Army inventory, after previously testing a 10-kW laser on the platform.
Once the laser is integrated, that becomes the High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck. Boeing is doing the integration work.
The laser is based on a design developed under the Department of Defense’s Robust Electric Laser Initiative Program, as well as through investments into the 60 kW-class system by the company and the Army.
The Pentagon has made directed energy an important priority because military officials believe ultimately employing lasers will dramatically decrease the cost of firing shots. Missiles, rockets, artillery and mortars would ultimately cost far more than shooting with a laser, and with the proper power source, laser weapons would never run out of ammunition.
The delivery of the more powerful laser to the Army marks another important milestone in developing directed energy to be used as laser weapons on a variety of platforms.
Defense News
DoD Presses On In Pursuit of Laser Weapons
The 10-kW specialized commercial-off-the-shelf welding laser on a HEMTT was tested between 2010 and 2014 in the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator program and shot down targets in flight, to include class 2 unmanned aircraft systems and 60mm mortars at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
The less powerful laser was also tested at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during a maneuver fires integration experiment last spring where the primary targets were class 1 quadcopter UAS as well as ground targets like simulated ground stations and ammunition points.
In 2015, the company used a 30-kW fiber laser weapon, known as ATHENA, to disable a truck from a mile away.
Lockheed is preparing to ship the 60-kW laser to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Ala.
The more powerful laser brings together individual lasers “generated through fiber optics, to generate a single, intense laser beam,” Lockheed explained, which allows for it to be scaled up in power by adding more fiber laser subunits.
“We have shown that a powerful directed energy laser is now sufficiently light-weight, low volume and reliable enough to be deployed on tactical vehicles for defensive applications on land, at sea and in the air,” Robert Afzal, a senior fellow for Lockheed’s Laser and Sensor Systems business, said.
The laser system has “proved to be highly efficient in testing,” the company stated, “capable of translating more than 43 percent of the electricity that powered it directly into the actual laser beam it emitted."
“In testing earlier this month, the Lockheed Martin laser produced a single beam of 58kW, representing a world record for a laser of this type,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
Lockheed was contracted to deliver the combined fiber laser for the Army’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or HEMTT, the largest vehicle in the Army inventory, after previously testing a 10-kW laser on the platform.
Once the laser is integrated, that becomes the High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck. Boeing is doing the integration work.
The laser is based on a design developed under the Department of Defense’s Robust Electric Laser Initiative Program, as well as through investments into the 60 kW-class system by the company and the Army.
The Pentagon has made directed energy an important priority because military officials believe ultimately employing lasers will dramatically decrease the cost of firing shots. Missiles, rockets, artillery and mortars would ultimately cost far more than shooting with a laser, and with the proper power source, laser weapons would never run out of ammunition.
The delivery of the more powerful laser to the Army marks another important milestone in developing directed energy to be used as laser weapons on a variety of platforms.
Defense News
DoD Presses On In Pursuit of Laser Weapons
The 10-kW specialized commercial-off-the-shelf welding laser on a HEMTT was tested between 2010 and 2014 in the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator program and shot down targets in flight, to include class 2 unmanned aircraft systems and 60mm mortars at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
The less powerful laser was also tested at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during a maneuver fires integration experiment last spring where the primary targets were class 1 quadcopter UAS as well as ground targets like simulated ground stations and ammunition points.
In 2015, the company used a 30-kW fiber laser weapon, known as ATHENA, to disable a truck from a mile away.
Lockheed is preparing to ship the 60-kW laser to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Ala.
The more powerful laser brings together individual lasers “generated through fiber optics, to generate a single, intense laser beam,” Lockheed explained, which allows for it to be scaled up in power by adding more fiber laser subunits.
“We have shown that a powerful directed energy laser is now sufficiently light-weight, low volume and reliable enough to be deployed on tactical vehicles for defensive applications on land, at sea and in the air,” Robert Afzal, a senior fellow for Lockheed’s Laser and Sensor Systems business, said.
The laser system has “proved to be highly efficient in testing,” the company stated, “capable of translating more than 43 percent of the electricity that powered it directly into the actual laser beam it emitted."
New IDS’ USB 3.1 board cameras for OEM with USB Type-C & Power Delivery
Cost-driven project camera series, housed or board-level, various lens holder options, CMOS e.g. brand-new PYTHON 480 or Sony IMX265, for instrumentation/embedded systems
Cost-driven project camera series, housed or board-level, various lens holder options, CMOS e.g. brand-new PYTHON 480 or Sony IMX265, for instrumentation/embedded systems
Designing power systems for defense applications is challenging. Research as shown that power engineers in this market are more likely to prioritize performance, struggle to meet project deadlines and have problems meeting EMI requirements more so than those in other industries.
Our latest webinar, Meeting DC-DC Power System Requirements in Defense Applications, explains how to overcome many of the challenges associated with defense power system design.
During the webinar, Vamshi Domudala, a Vicor system application engineer, will explain standards that need to be met; layout techniques and filters that reduce noise; and how to benefit from power components that have been optimized for defense applications.
Register now at a time to suit you, and learn how to meet challenging defense system requirements:
Thursday, May 4 at 8 a.m. EDT
Thursday, May 4 at 11 a.m. EDT
Our latest webinar, Meeting DC-DC Power System Requirements in Defense Applications, explains how to overcome many of the challenges associated with defense power system design.
During the webinar, Vamshi Domudala, a Vicor system application engineer, will explain standards that need to be met; layout techniques and filters that reduce noise; and how to benefit from power components that have been optimized for defense applications.
Register now at a time to suit you, and learn how to meet challenging defense system requirements:
Thursday, May 4 at 8 a.m. EDT
Thursday, May 4 at 11 a.m. EDT