Army Prepares High Energy Laser for Drones, Vehicles & Helicopters

Video Above: Soldiers Will Wear and Fire Laser Weapons

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Firing lasers from fighter jets while in combat, hitting enemy hypersonic missiles in space and incinerating enemy drones from armored combat vehicles are all missions intended for fast-emerging, now-in-development laser weapons.

Lasers, and many laser technologies such as rangefinders and spotters are of course already used in many applications, including deployed Navy ships. At the same time, the Pentagon and military services are moving quickly to develop newer, stronger, more-mobile laser weapons. Much of this includes “laser scaling” and “size, weight and power” improvements intended to engineer lasers able to arm fighter jets, ground vehicles and even destroy enemy ICBMs in space or fast maneuvering cruise missiles.

HEL: High-Energy Laser

One innovation now being pursued by the Army and several industry competitors is called HEL, for High-Energy Laser. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, for example, is now engineering a scalable HEL able to fire a 100kw-class up to a 300kw-class laser with integrated thermal management, beam direction and precision tracking software. The GA-EMS prototype HEL laser is a packaged version of the 7thGeneration Distributed Gain (DG) Design they’ve already demonstrated. The laser system employs two Gen 7 laser heads in a very compact and lightweight package. Recent architectural improvements have enabled single-beam DG Lasers to achieve comparable beam quality to fiber lasers in a very simple design without the need for beam combination.

The GA-EMS HEL could mount from a large tactical truck to, for example, offer cruise missile or Forward Operating Base protection to advancing convoys or troops, large mechanized forces, installations or ammo and supplies in transit. While 50kw lasers are now being fired from tactical vehicles and even armored vehicles such as Strykers, much of the key scaling work being done by GA-EMS centers upon “scaling” laser energy to reach 300kw for cruise missile defense and an ability to intercept, incinerate and destroy large maneuvering targets. 

One application under development is the integration of a large, high-power laser onto an Army Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck or HEMTT. This application could not only bring mobility to ground-based tactical defense but also enable a large enough form factor to transport, store and draw upon the large amounts of exportable power sufficient to support a 300kw or larger laser.