Laser weapon

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that it successfully test fired Britain's first high-powered, long-range laser directed energy weapon (LDEW), called DragonFire, on October 17 at the Porton Down science park test range in Wiltshire.

Lockheed Martin has delivered its most powerful laser to date to the US military's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering for installation in new laser weapon demonstrators designed to engage a variety of targets.

The US Navy has taken delivery of a near-operational high-energy tactical laser weapon called the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance system from Lockheed Martin that can be installed in existing warships.

Using a 50-kW high-energy laser weapon, a US Army Stryker combat vehicle acquired, tracked, targeted, and defeated multiple 60-mm mortar rounds and other threats during four weeks of live-fire exercises at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Rafael has successfully tested its Iron Beam laser weapon in various scenarios against steep-track threats, including UAVs, mortars, rockets, and anti-tank missiles. The weapon is set to complement Israel's famous Iron Dome aerial defense system

The US Navy has shot down its first drone representing a subsonic cruise missile using an all-electric high-energy laser. At White Sands, the Lockheed Martin Layered Laser Defense (LLD) weapon disabled the engine on a drone, which parachuted to earth.

Rheinmetall has unveiled its portable Skyranger 30 HEL air defense system that boasts a combination of a 30 mm automatic cannon, Short Range Air Defense missiles, and a high-energy laser to protect mobile units.

General Atomics and Boeing have won a US Army contract to prototype their most powerful distributed-gain laser weapon to date: a groundbreaking 300-kW, solid-state, target-tracking beast that could fry enemy missiles and aircraft out of the air.

The British Ministry of Defence has given three four-year contracts worth £72.5 million to consortia led by Thales and Raytheon UK to develop laser and radio frequency demonstrator weapons to be mounted on Royal Navy ships and British Army vehicles.

The US Army has fielded its first combat-capable laser weapon prototype. Developed in only 24 months, the solid-state DE M-SHORAD laser was mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle and participated as an Army maneuver element for the first time.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense has successfully field tested an airborne High-Power Laser Weapon System. The solid-state laser weapon intercepted a number of drones at different altitudes and ranges at a testing field in the center of Israel.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing have entered into a partnership to develop a scalable 100 kW to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system for air and missile defenses.