Last February, the US Navy was able to test a new anti-drone instrument successfully. The system is a specialized laser that could attack any remote avian vehicle by simply pointing the beam towards the target.
Layered Laser Defense
Artist’s rendering of Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS system.
The Layered Laser Defense or LLD has been tested to damage an unmanned drone silently. The laser quickly disarmed a vehicle using a high-energy beam that is hardly visible to the naked eye. The attack is as quick as the blink of an eye.
Observers noticed a sharp orange glow right before the laser took down the drone. After the operation, the vehicle immediately poured out its own smoke from the damage, killing its engine and ejecting the parachute for landing.
The LLD operation was the first demonstration of the specialized laser beam's capability to the public. This marks the initial use of an all-electric weapon in the form of a high-energy laser by the US Navy.
The high-powered laser system was built specifically to target modern, unmanned aerial systems and subsonic missiles.
The tactical weapon was developed from design to system by experts from the esteemed aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
The LLD can be utilized by the armed forces to counter any unmanned vehicles moving at a great speed, such as remote-controlled drones and even fast-attack boats. The laser beam weapon comes with a high-resolution imaging instrument that could mark and monitor any hostile objects in the air.
Moreover, the LLD telescope could also relay identification data during combat situations and assess the battle damage and inflictions brought to engaged targets.
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US Navy's New Anti-Missle and Anti-Drone Weapon
The LLD test last February was made possible through the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under the US Army's High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility. The demonstration was held at a site in New Mexico known as White Sands Missile Range.
TExperts from the ONR carried out the operation the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering), and the instrument's developer, Lockheed Martin.
Chief of Naval Research and incumbent rear admiral Lorin Selby explained in a US Navy Office of Information press release that modern technologies like the LLD have the capacity to level-up operations of naval combats in the future.
These innovations contain great potential that could address threats ahead of time, lead a fleet one step ahead, and present a capacity that complements ttoday's existing defensive weapons built for high-intensity conflicts, the chief continued.
LLD can sustain the amount of lethality the fleet requires against mature technologies and multiple threats during operations. Experts behind this new laser beam system were a product of unparalleled scientists and naval researchers, who equipped the LLD with a range of attack options, all from non-lethal optical disability to damaging the entire target.
Laser beams hold promising results for the future of naval combat. It offers quick and precise solutions for warfighters while offering a simplified and convenient approach to logistics for crews and tactical vehicles.
Lasers are relatively safe for their close-contact users, as the system does not require or release any harmful compounds such as in conventional countermeasure weapons based on gunpowder and propellants, EurekAlert reports.
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