Laser guns were designed to combat drones, they were created in the interests of the German army. This was reported by Rheinmetall. The first tests with a laser stand were carried out at the Rheinmetall test site in Unterlus as part of the program to combat unmanned aerial vehicles (C-UAS).

Rheinmetall announced that the demo version of the laser weapon commissioned by the German Bundeswehr has been successfully tested. The laser test bench serves not only as a demonstration of laser weapons technology, but also as a basis for future research.

The test bench is designed so that all components of the future laser weapon system can be studied modularly. Every interface to sensors or energy sources such as radar and laser beams are “open” designs.

This allows you to iteratively test every possible combination and then compare the results. The aim of the current research on the laser stand is to create the appropriate configuration for the demonstrator of technologies for the creation of a mobile installation with a laser power of more than 10 kW for integration into the Boxer combat vehicle by the end of 2022.

The laser test bench consists of a 20-foot container divided into three sections: laser, operator, and infrastructure.

The source of the laser beam, which includes five fiber laser modules with a capacity of 2 kW, is installed in the laser chamber. The individual laser modules combined with spectral communication achieve a total power of 10 kW, thus creating a good beam quality.

During C-UAS testing, various types of drones were optically tracked and neutralized at a distance of up to one kilometer. Rheinmetall said the test results were more than satisfactory. Currently the laser stand consists entirely of units made by Rheinmetall. But the open architecture of the stand interface allows you to integrate and test third-party components. Source