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US Army moves ahead on laser weapons
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| 13 June 2005 |
By Joshua Kucera JDW Staff Reporter
Washington, DC
Northrop Grumman and United Defense have teamed up to provide a vehicle-mounted laser air-defence system.
The companies have developed a concept vehicle, TALON, which would use a 100 kW solid-state laser to shoot down rockets, mortars, artillery and enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The laser would be mounted on a manned ground vehicle similar to those being produced by United Defense for the US Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) programme.
In late May the army's Space and Missile Defense Command released a formal request for proposals for a 100 kW laser with high beam quality, as well as concepts for integrating the laser onto a ground vehicle or a UAV.
Various industry teams have been working to test a 25 kW solid-state laser, but military officials believe that true military utility will only come with a 100 kW laser.
The UAV would have a "mission of air-to-ground precision strike", according to army documents. Officials from United Defense said the most difficult engineering challenges for the ground vehicle would be power management in the hybrid electric drive, which would provide power to both the vehicle and the laser, and managing the heat created by the laser.
"The real challenge will be the thermal management system," said Bob Stratton, United Defense's manager of business development for army programmes. 216 of 409 words