Laser weapons to be fitted on UK warships and armoured vehicles for first time

Sky News ^ | September 14, 2021 | Deborah Haynes

[American Number 181269513]

Laser weapons will be fitted to a British warship and armoured vehicles for the first time in a test that could "revolutionise the battlefield", the Ministry of Defence has said. So-called radio frequency weapons, which use electromagnetic energy to disable electronic systems, will also be included in three contracts worth around £72.5m. The money will be used to build demonstrators that will test the capabilities before they are cleared for regular use. Jeremy Quin, the defence minister in charge of procurement, said: "Directed Energy Weapons are a key element of our future equipment programmes and we intend to become a world-leader in the research, manufacture and implementation of this next-generation technology." The systems are powered by electricity and operate without ammunition - meaning that are cheaper to run as well as offering the armed forces futuristic fire power that sounds more like science fiction than real life. The first laser will be put on board a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate to be used against drones. Another laser will be fitted to the army's Wolfhound armoured vehicles.

[Repeal The 17th]

£72.5m = 100 million US Dollars
-
“...will be fitted to a British warship and armoured vehicles...”
“...to build demonstrators that will test the capabilities
before they are cleared for regular use...”

[17th Miss Regt]

The systems are powered by electricity

Is the electricity they use generated by wind power or solar power?

What? FOSSIL FUEL?

UNACCEPTABLE!

[doorgunner69]

Snark....
Read a possibly classified assessment of the then Soviet navy some 40 years claiming they were expected to field ship lasers within five years.

And, there are a few FReepers that read too much popular mechanix that think our navy already deploys all sorts of particle beam weapons.

[Do_Tar]

This could be devastating to the cat population.

[17th Miss Regt]

Some 17 million dollars of that money will be allocated to develop an adapter that the vehicle can use to access geothermal energy just before they fire. (Plunge probe into ground, absorb geothermal energy, convert to high power blast and then fire.) Another 16 million dollars of that money will be allocated to develop a large wood pellet burner that the ship can use to generate a large charge of energy just prior to taking a shot.

This is similar to a program that Jimmy Carter started to explore the development of green nuclear weapons with an emphasis on re-using them after expending them.

[LibWhacker]

Cool! But I still have a soft spot for water.

[Trumpet 1]

Phasers like on Star Trek. They just need a powerful ultra small battery for the hand held devise. The warp core could power the larger size power cannon.

[agere_contra]

The greens should be told that it’s a revolutionary form of stored solar energy known as ‘natural gas’ :0)

[PIF]

radio frequency weapons are now laser weapons - those Brits are amazing

[Moltke]

You must’ve missed the word “also” in that sentence...