The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract to an MBDA-led group to develop a laser weapon demonstrator, which government officials hope could help pave the way for such technology to be used on the battlefield.
Under the contract, valued at 30 million British pounds ($37.5 million), the UK Dragonfire consortium will build a system that “can pick up and track targets at various ranges in mixed weather conditions over land and water,” the ministry wrote in an announcement earlier this month. The demonstrator is slated to undergo testing in 2019.
“The project will inform decisions on the future of the programme and help the [ministry’s] Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) establish a road map to an in-service capability,” the ministry said. “If it is successful, the first laser weapons would come into service in the mid-2020s.”
Besides MBDA, the UK Dragonfire consortium includes QinetiQ, Leonardo, GKN, Arke, BAE Systems and Marshall ADG. QinetiQ has said it expects to provide the 50-kilowatt-class laser for the demonstrator.
The ministry described the laser project as part of a broader effort to spur weapon system advances. Laser weapons offer increased precision and speed-of-light capability.
“This is a significant demonstration programme aimed at maturing our understanding of what is still an immature technology,” said Dstl’s Peter Cooper. “It draws on innovative research into high-power lasers so as to understand the potential of the technology to provide a more effective response to the emerging threats that could be faced by UK armed forces.”
The United States has been working on several laser weapon projects of its own, including a ship-based, 30-kilowatt laser weapon system that has been tested against drones.