The purpose of the high-energy laser is to provide a defensive weapon against incoming threats. Here's how it all works.
In the sun-scorched desert of White Sands Missile Range, a Raytheon-built laser weapon mounted on an armored vehicle shot down multiple mortar rounds over four weeks of testing, the companyMay 16. The testing, part of an Army program to develop new kinds of defenses against flying projectiles and other threats, also involved the laser defeating a range of drones.
Raytheon describes its directed energy weapon as a 50 kilowatt-class high-energy laser. The company worked with defense contractor KBR’s subsidiary Kord to integrate that laser on a Stryker combat vehicle. Strykers are eight-wheeled armored transports, operated by a crew of two and with room for 9 troops to ride inside.
The military has long been interested in finding tools and weapons that can protect forces as they move from attacks in the low altitudes where drones fly and mortar rounds arc over hills towards their targets.
For ships and bases on land, counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar defense already exist in the Phalanx close-in weapon system used on ships, or the C-RAM variant used on land. These systems pair sensors with bullets to shoot down incoming projectiles, an effective method but one where theLaser weapons are designed to offer interception at rates much cheaper than missiles, and even cheaper than bullets.
, and getting it to reliably produce a beam of 50 kilowatt hours takes a tremendous amount of power storage and ability to discharge rapidly.
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