Navy program for 50 Kilowatt truck mounted lasers for shooting down drones

The US Navy has a truck mounted laser weapons program.

The Laser Weapon System has the following requirements –
* lasing profile including full-power lasing for up to 120 seconds followed by a 20 minute
recharge to 80% of total capacity (power and thermal) – this lasing period is cumulative
between recharges, and may be continuous.

* Laser Weapon System total weight not to exceed 2,500 lbs., and fully contained within vehicle’s cargo area, including:

a. HEL Source – compact (inclusive of all equipment required to operate laser source), rugged (able to survive and operate in and after transit through operationally relevant environments), high efficiency and good beam quality laser (greater than 20% electrical-to-optical within a 2.0 (Threshold) to 2.5 (objective) times lambda/D circumscribed diameter circular bucket) with minimum optical output power of 25kW. Approaches for combining lower power lasers within the above constraints as well as options to increase power (up to 50kW) are also of interest.

b. Beam Director – compact, lightweight, rugged, capable of handling a 50 kW beam, approximately 30 cm aperture, and capable of maintaining the beam on a selected aim point on target at range with less than 5 μrad jitter RMS and 3 μrad/s drift; including environmental coatings and seals and exit aperture protection in all USMC environments spanning littoral to desert environments.

c. Beam Control – hardware, techniques, and processing systems for improved reductionjavascript:void(0); of base movement, including but not limited to advanced fast steering mirrors; automated internal alignment system to include alignment of sub-aperture beams and shared aperture imaging systems.

d. Adaptive Optics – novel and innovative approaches and solutions for compact adaptive optics capable of handling a 50kW beam that will sense and correct atmospheric effects resulting from USMC environmental conditions.

e. Atmospheric Characterization and Tactical Decision Aid: approaches to detect/measure atmospheric conditions and support predictions of HEL performance.

f. Thermal Storage and Management – capable of removing waste heat from the laser commensurate with power and efficiencies mentioned above.

g. Power Generation, Storage, and Conditioning – rugged, compact solutions capable of supplying continuous clean stable power to the laser during firing commensurate with power and efficiencies mentioned above. For batteries, cooling capability to mitigate thermal effects is also of interest.

h. Weapon Station Controls and Displays – single user interface console providing full weapon system control including system health monitoring.

i. Long Range EO/IR optics – novel, innovative or improved optics and imaging systems/subsystems to support enhanced Combat ID.

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