It’s common to see laser weapons in science fiction movies, but now the U.S. Air Force has one in the real world. Raytheon has built and officially delivered the first publicly acknowledged high-energy laser with a purpose to shoot down Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as drones. The Air Force plans to deploy the weapon overseas as part of a year-long experiment to test out the laser weapon and train operators on how to use it in real-life scenarios.
Small But Dangerous
Even though drones are small, they can be a dangerous threat in the hands of the wrong person. In the past, terrorist organizations such as ISIS used these devices to attack oil production facilities and shut down airports. That’s why the US Air Force has taken on this anti-drone laser.
Roy Azevedo, president of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, said:
Five years ago, few people worried about the drone threat. Now, we hear about attacks or incursions all the time. Our customers saw this coming and asked us to develop a ready-now counter-UAS capability. We did just that by going from the drawing board to delivery in less than 24 months.
About The Laser
At the moment, laser weapons are not extremely powerful, but they have shown themselves to be effective enough in field tests to take down UAVs. Only costing a dollar per round, the laser can deliver a kill shot that can destroy a UAV, and it does it all at the speed of light.
Raytheon developed its new laser around a Multi-Spectral Targeting System. This system uses an electro-optical/infrared sensor that can detect, identify, and track potential threats. This allows the laser to lock on and engage in a matter of seconds, blasting any hostile drones out of the sky.
The laser is mounted on a small all-terrain vehicle. It can be charged using a standard 220-volt outlet to not only fire 12 shots, but also to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. However, when it’s hooked to a generator, it’s capable of delivering a nearly infinite number of shots.
Anti-Drone History
Raytheon claims that this is the “first” anti-drone weapon given to the Air Force, but lasers have been used on the battlefield by the U.S. military for over ten years already. Back in 2003, the U.S. military used the ZEUS laser system to take down IED’s in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. Navy has also been testing out anti-drone lasers since at least 2017.
Lasers were developed in the 1960s, and research into laser weapons almost started immediately after that. Since at least the 1970’s the U.S. military began experimenting with anti-drone laser weapons. In 1973, ARPA (now DARPA) was the first to blast a drone out of the sky using a laser weapon that worked by heating the engine of the aircraft, which caused it to explode.
Watch the Raytheon High-Energy Laser Weapon System in action in the video below.
