UK Enters the Race, Set to Develop Laser Weapon

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The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is taking a major step to deploying laser weapons on the battlefield. The MoD is gearing up to roll out a demonstration version of its first laser weapon in June.

The Laser Directed Energy Weapon Capability Demonstrator project will be awarding a contract worth between 20 and 100 million pounds (28.9 to 144.5 million dollars). The MoD said in a statement that “the potential of laser based weapons systems has been identified as an opportunity and offers significant advantages in terms of running costs as well as providing a more appropriate response to the threats currently faced by UK armed forces.”

A consortium of companies will work on the project, including: MBDA, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Thales, Rheinmetall, with a laser by Qinetiq. British engineering firm Babcock will take the lead and manage the consortium.

The Defence and Science Technology Laboratory (DSTL), the MoD’s defence research arm, will be supporting the project with the aim of enhancing “the United Kingdom’s understanding of the capability of laser-based weapon systems while demonstrating the ability of a high-power [LDEW] system to engage airborne and surface targets at operationally relevant ranges.”

The project will “consist of system studies and hardware trials, culminating in a number of practical demonstrations,” DSTL said in a statement.

The UK is planning to “demonstrate a directed energy weapon at sea by the end of the decade,” said former First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas. The MoD is hoping to have a smaller, land-based version ready by 2017.