Dragonfire, the UK’s MBDA-led Laser Directed Energy (LDEW) programme, has successfully launched a series of tests to prove the accuracy and power of its new laser weapon.

The first of these tests, conducted by the Dragonfire consortium, a joint MoD/MOD project between MBDA, Leonardo, QinetiQ and Dstl, demonstrated at low power that the system can successfully track air and sea targets with exceptionally high accuracy.

This success paved the way for the next phase of testing, which will be the first in British industry to test a high-power static laser while maintaining aiming accuracy. The next step will be to combine the results of these two tests, which combine proven tracking accuracy and a powerful laser by engaging targets in practically simulated scenarios.

Chris Allam, Managing Director of MBDA UK, said:The success of these tests is an important step in the development of laser-guided weapons. This is the culmination of a lot of work done by both industry and DSTL teams around unique innovations in Dragonfire that test the limits of what is physically possible in the field of laser weapons.“.

The main task of the LDEW system is to safely control and focus a high-power laser at an extremely precise point over a long distance. The monitoring test was an excellent test of how the components of the Dragonfire monitoring system work together.

This test used a low-power QinetiQ laser, a Leonardo beam guide, and MBDA image processing and control technology to provide the ultra-fine “fine” marking and tracking accuracy that would be required to produce damage effects when using a powerful laser.

Other subsystems were also tested during the tests, including the C2, the effector management system (EMS), and “coarse” tracking – the direction of the laser on the target.