The US Department of Defense is exploring a number of new weapon system concepts to re-arm the armed forces for future conflicts, as well as strengthen conventional deterrence capabilities with NATO and other allies. This is reported by the Building Tech portal.

One of the most common threats is the widespread use of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS), also known as drones.

During the ongoing war in Ukraine, UAVs are used to detect and correct artillery and mortar fire from closed positions and directly drop ammunition with a small warhead fitted as a barrage munition. It is up to the US military and its allies to find a cost-effective and effective solution that can be implemented at scale.

Directed energy weapons, and especially high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-power microwave (HPM) weapons, have long been seen as a potential response to the enemy, as well as creating cheap and effective short-range air defense (SHORAD). larger UAVs and even rocket-propelled artillery and mortar shells

Thanks to a series of trials with the US military and significant investment in technology improvements, systems integration and manufacturing capacity, one of the leading HEL manufacturers believes their technology is mature enough to begin regular use as part of the US and allied military arsenals.

Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S) has several mature HEL programs, including the High Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) and a more powerful system installed on the US Army’s Stryker vehicle as part of the Directed Energy Mobile Air Defense.

As Raytheon Technologies explains, you need power to direct the effective laser energy at a target, but you also need good beam quality, and you need a very advanced tracking sensor and algorithms to keep that beam on target while aiming. There is a power class of 15 kilowatts, which is the smaller systems you see in a light tactical vehicle or in the back of a commercially available pickup truck, like the HELWS (High Energy Laser Weapon System). This category of systems does a really good job with Tier 1 and Tier 2 drones, and we’ve even proven that we can reliably shoot Tier 3 drones.

Then we move on to another power category, which is greater. You need a larger vehicle and delivery times are longer. It’s about 50 kilowatts and gives you what we call Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD). This is no longer just an anti-tank aircraft, it is now a short-range anti-aircraft missile. You can shoot groups of drones with longer range and larger drones. We’ve also proven that we can withstand rocket artillery and mortar shells.

We’re excited to show the world that our high-energy laser weapons are real and ready to defend against more than just drones. Stryker. During combat trials, we proved that the HEL is ready to take on this challenge and be delivered into the hands of commanders and soldiers.