By Kris Osborn, Warrior

(Washington DC) The People’s Liberation Army is showcasing an emerging truck-mounted, counter-drone laser weapon designed to track and incinerate multiple moving air targets simultaneously. The OW5 laser weapon, as described by the Chinese government-backed Global Times newspaper, integrates radar and optoelectronic sensing to “burn out drone circuits within several kilometers in seconds.” 

The PRC paper offers very little detail about its new anti-drone laser weapon, and its emergence seems to raise more questions than answers regarding its power-density, kilowatt strength and “scalability.”  Perhaps most striking about the PLA system is that, based on a quick observer’s eye view, the OW5 configuration and the tactical truck it is mounted on appears as a close replica of the US Army’s HEMTT-mounted High Energy Laser.  The Army’s now operational HEL system, integrated on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), has over the years experimented with power-scaling lasers to fire a 300kw weapon at drone and aerial targets. 

The Chinese OW5 weapons system, as integrated into a HEMTT-like tactical truck, may or may not operate with a comparable measure of exportable power, energy density and kilowatt strength. Nonetheless, laser weapons of course not only bring the immediacy of attacking at the speed of light with a seemingly limitless magazine, but also enable scalable applications of burn or precision intensity designed to disable or fully incinerate a drone target.  This kind of drone-defense weapon is not without substantial challenges, as a laser would need to be sufficiently "scaled" and supported by massive amounts of mobile power to operate with an ability to destroy multiple attacking drone targets at one time. 

Still other questions likely pertain to fire control and radar technology, meaning the speed and image fidelity with which it can track and destroy targets. Also, how effective might it be tracking targets on the move or multiple targets at one time, as this is something enabled by the performance qualities and integration of the sensing, detection, fire control and targeting of the weapons system. 

The Global Times reports that the OW5, built by China’s state-owned Norinco, can rapidly switch targets and destroy multiple drones at one time. 

The question of what kinds of performance parameters might define the OW5 likely relates to the PLA’s relative ability to miniaturize “exportable power.”  This kind of challenge has been a longstanding area of focus for US weapons developers, as high-powered lasers require massive amounts of efficiently stored and generated expeditionary power, something which can be difficult to integrate into a small form factor or moving platform. 

US Army HEL 

Lower kilowatt lasers can fire from an armored vehicle on the move in combat against enemy helicopters, drones or even advancing infantry The US Army’s  HEL,various applications of which have been tested and built by major weapons developers such as Lockheed, Northrop. Raytheon and General Atomics, can work with multiple radar systems and potentially build upon recent networking success with the Army’s Sentinel Radar and Patriot radar; the Army’s Patriot has had some success tracking multiple maneuvering cruise missiles targets inbound to target. This is the kind of combat contingency for which the HEL might be well positioned to support, as the laser could integrate with the radar system to intercept and destroy the incoming cruise missiles.

Lockheed Martin, for example, is now experimenting with a truck mounted laser called the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative designed to generate massive , unprecedented 500-lw power. 

The HEL could also integrate with the Marine Corps Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar, yet another system intended to track and destroy larger incoming threats. One additional advantage when it comes to HEL-radar integration is the fact that the Army is having great success networking radar systems to one another in real time to share target coordinates and create an integrated “meshed” network of defensive nodes. These could be synergized with HEL fire control to greatly expedited sensor-to-shooter intercept.

  Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University