The Army is set to receive a powerful laser weapon from Lockheed Martin [LMT] capable of shooting enemy weapons from drones to missiles out of the sky at the fraction of the cost of traditional air defense systems.
Lockheed has completed design, development and demonstration of the 60 kW beam “combined fiber laser” and is prepping the truck-mounted system for transport to the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Ala.
In final testing earlier in March, Lockheed demonstrated the laser’s ability to produce a single beam of 58 kW, which it says is a world record for that type of laser. The device is a beam combined-fiber laser that crosses the streams of multiple lasers and compounds their individual power by focusing them on a single spot. The design allows for the Army to scale the laser to destroy different size targets by adding or removing fiber laser subunits.
“Delivery of this laser represents an important milestone along the path to fielding a practical laser weapon system,” Paula Hartley, vice president of advanced product solutions for Lockheed Martin Cyber, Ships & Advanced Technologies, said in a statement. “This milestone could not have been achieved without close partnership between the U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin; we are pleased to be able to deliver this system for their further integration and evaluation.”
A rendering of a truck mounted 60 kW laser weapon system for tactical U.S. Army vehicles. Graphic: Lockheed MartinA rendering of a truck mounted 60 kW laser weapon system for tactical U.S. Army vehicles. Graphic: Lockheed Martin
The laser is based on a design developed under the Department of Defense Robust Electric Laser Initiative Program, and further developed through investments by Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Army into a 60kW-class system.
“The inherent scalability of this beam combined laser system has allowed us to build the first 60kW-class fiber laser for the U.S. Army,” said Robert Afzal, Ph.D., senior fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems. “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.”
According to Afzal, the Lockheed Martin team created a laser beam that was near “diffraction-limited,” meaning it was close to the physical limits for focusing energy toward a single, small spot. The laser system also proved to be highly efficient in testing, capable of translating more than 43 percent of the electricity that powered it directly into the actual laser beam it emitted.
Lockheed intends to develop a family of laser weapon systems capable of various power levels tailored to address missions across sea, air and ground platforms.
Laser weapons provide a complement to traditional air-defense weapons but at a fraction of the cost of firing a Patriot missile or other kinetic interceptors, Army leaders believe. Lasers are seen as a key weapon system to counter swarms of drones or large numbers of rockets and mortars. In 2015, the company used a 30kW fiber laser weapon, known as ATHENA, to disable a truck from a mile away.