South Korea's ADD develops laser-power enhancing technology

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD) announced on 25 May that it has developed a laser-power enhancing technology for use in future weapon systems, with the most immediate application being a laser-based air-defence system.

The agency said in a statement that the technology combines multiple lasers with different wavelengths into a single beam, which is understood to refer to a technique known as spectral beam combining.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA)-led project, which began in 2015 and was completed in 2020, saw the ADD apply the spectral beam-combining technology to a 1 kW-class laser module and manage to integrate five 1 kW-class fibre lasers into one 5 kW-class high-quality laser module.

The use of fibre lasers presents several advantages in terms of miniaturisation, weight, handling, and maintenance. If developed as a weapon system, it can be used for air defence against threats such as unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and/or missiles, said the ADD.