U.S Defense Forces will deploy Laser Weapons

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“We have demonstrated the performance of a weapon laser system to destroy unmanned systems and ortars. The achievements in this field prove, that these systems will be deployed on land and at sea in the near ture ” Margaret Morse , Boeing’s VP for directed energy systems told i-HLS.

The senior Boeing official was one of the keynote speakers in the IMDA Ballistic Missiles Defense onference, organized by the Israeli Missile Defense Association (IMDA) in cooperation with i-HLS.

Boeing has won a $29.5 million contract recently, with the Office of Naval Research. The contract is for constructing a precision beam control system for ship-mounted solid- state lasers, improving on a previously developed truck-mounted laser system developed for the American Army.

Last year Boeing and the U.S. Army demonstrated the capabilities of the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) in maritime conditions, successfully targeting a variety of aerial targets at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. In these recent demonstrations, HEL MD used a 10-kilowatt, high energy laser installed on an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle.

The demonstrator is the first mobile, high-energy laser, counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) platform to be built and demonstrated by the U.S. Army.

By coupling a solid-state, high-energy laser weapon module with the operational gun platform on a single mount, this system will advance the Navy’s capability to counter surface and air threats such as small boats and UAVs, affordably and with high precision.

A video interview with Margaret Morse will be shown soon on the i-HLS TV channel.