Army to test laser weapon as it looks to field rapidly developed system next year
(Worthy News) – The Pentagon is betting big that laser weapons, once firmly confined to the realm of science fiction, will prove to be critical battlefield technology as the Army’s first prototype laser weapon is set for its initial live-fire test this month.
It took the Army, with defense contractor Kord Technologies, less than two years to build the first Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense system, or DE M-SHORAD — a Stryker A1 vehicle outfitted with a 50-kilowatt high-energy laser. Army officials want to field the first four DE M-SHORADs to soldiers by late next year to provide highly mobile air defense protection against new world threats like armed enemy drones.
In a battery of tests — beginning next week — the Army and Kord want to prove DE M-SHORAD’s ability to locate airborne threats, instantaneously lock on and track and then destroy them in a matter of seconds. The technology has “game-changing” potential for close range air defense against the near-peer rivals — namely China and Russia — that the Pentagon has shifted its focus to in recent years, said Gen. Joseph Martin, the Army’s vice chief of staff. Martin saw the first DE M-SHORAD prototype April 29 during a visit to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. [ Source: Stars and Strips (Read More…) ]