Lockheed Will Make Two to Four 300 Kilowatt Class Lasers for the US Army

Lockheed Martin has a US Army contract to develop and deliver up to four 300 kW-class laser weapon systems to the Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL) prototype program. The IFPC-HEL system complements other layered defense components to protect soldiers from stressing threats, unmanned aerial systems, rocket, artillery and mortars, along with rotary and …

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250-300 kW Combat Lasers Now and Scaling to Megawatts

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing are working together to scale 100 kW-class lasers to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to they can shoot down missiles and not just drones. The HEL weapon system will combine GA-EMS’ scalable distributed gain laser technology, HELLi-ion battery systems and integrated thermal management with Boeing’s …

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US Army and Navy Demo 300 Kilowatt Laser by 2022 and Navy Targets 500 Kilowatts by 2024

In 2022, the US Army will field test two high-energy lasers. A 50-kilowatt weapon to destroy enemy drones and incoming artillery rockets and a 300-kW weapon that could potentially shoot down cruise missiles. The US Navy has installed and tested 150 kilowatt lasers and will be testing 300-kilowatt lasers. US Army’s Six Modernization Priorities 1. …

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US Will Have Space Based Sensors by 2023 But Will Not Deploy Space Weapons Yet

The Defense Department will continue to research and study space-based weapons like megawatt lasers, particle beams, and orbiting missiles. Michael Griffin, the defense undersecretary for research and engineering, has pushed to expand U.S. missile defenses and to enable hitting ICBMs during the initial boost phase and hypersonic weapons. This was reported by Patrick Tucker at …

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New research for space based Neutral Particle Beam (NPB) system

The US Missile Defense Agency had a request for “Develop the enabling technologies required to field an operational exo-atmospheric Neutral Particle Beam (NPB) system”. Neutral beam accelerator technology was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A prototype neutral hydrogen beam weapon was launched aboard a suborbital sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range in July …

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US Senate budgeting $200 million in 2018 to speed laser and microwave weapons

The US Senate’s version of the annual defense bill provides $200 million for rapid prototyping of directed energy weapons. There’s no shortage of U.S. military interest in battlefield lasers and other directed-energy weapons. From truck-mounted lasers to high-powered microwaves that take down small drones, the Army, Navy, and Air Force are all exploring the possibilities. …

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