Posted on 04/17/2017 9:35:29 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
The Army has upgraded the power of its emerging Stryker-mounted laser weapon 5kW and confirmed the new weapon's ability to incinerate numerous enemy drones and launch offensive attacks during ongoing testing at Fort Sill, Okla., service officials said.
No bullets were fired, and no sounds were made as the experimental laser, called Mobile High-Energy Laser (MEHEL), destroyed drone targets during recent testing. Silent defense and attack provide a substantial tactical advantage as it can afford Stryker vehicles the opportunity to conduct combat missions without giving away their position.
Army officials said that after a few attempts to destroy the drone with the laser, the drone fell from the sky, crashing to the ground.
"We are working with Space and Missile Defense Command, using their MEHEL to engage various targets, to include low-flying UAS," Lt. Col. Jeff Erts, Chief of Experimentation and Wargaming, Fires Battle Lab, Fires Center of Excellence, said.
Adam Aberle, SMDC High Energy Laser Division technology development and demonstration lead said the testing verified that a radar and laser could be mounted on a Stryker vehicle so that it could self-cue targets.
During ongoing testing, the laser weapon has successfully shot down 21 out of 23 enemy drone targets.
The effort marks the first-ever integration of an Army laser weapon onto a combat vehicle.
“The idea is to provide a solution to a capability gap which is an inability to acquire, track and destroy low, slow drones that proliferate all over the world,” Tim Reese, director of strategic planning, General Dynamics Land Systems, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
The weapon is capable of destroying Group 1 and Group 2 small and medium-sized drones, Reese added.
The laser,, will be integrated into the Fire Support Vehicle Stryker variant designed for target tracking and identification. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at scout.com ...
You just weapon will be used as anti-personal.Slice and dice.
Drones - yes. Artillery and mortar rounds - pipe dreams.
would be nice if they could develop some type of system by drones that could ‘smell out’ land mines and detonate them from the air somehow- clear whole roads before the army travels them- that would be a major help-
You just know this weapon will be used as anti-personal.Slice and dice.
Somebody on a thread about NK’s failed missile launch this weekend hypothesized that this kind of system might have been responsible for the failure. How cool would that be?!
Just want the tree-trimming version.
It’s already been done.
Just the thing for Navy ships which need to defend against swarms of Iranian speedboats.
I definitely see this happening,,, “the anti-personnel. Slice and dice.”
Be mindful of the terms of art. A drone in a military sense is a like sized and shape target, not a drone toy one would buy, or would have bought at Radio Shack.
Calling Capt. Kirk and Mr. Scott. Mr. Spock join in,.
I see it as an ideal sniper weapon.No windage or elevation problems,just put the crosshairs on the target and push the switch.
“Soon” being Army Speak for 2050 or beyond.
What makes you think I'm unaware of that? Do you know how an artillery shell is constructed? Relatively thick steel casing. Moving at least 100x faster than a drone and spinning and with no vulnerable propellers etc.
How would that work?
They are on Navy ships.
My question is how well will laser weapons work in a battle field situation where there is a lot of dust, smoke and sometime heavy rain and fog?
Thw Ameriacan ARMY, from Sabers to Lasers.
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