The US Army tested a Stryker armored vehicle with a prototype of a 50-kilowatt laser installation during a live-fire exercise at the Fort Sill base in Oklahoma. The military plans to receive four such vehicles by October of this year. They will use a laser to fight drones, as well as artillery shells and mines. It is expected that in the future this will significantly increase the security of columns and military facilities.
During the exercises, which took place on August 10, the military tested the laser installation by firing at mock-ups simulating missiles, drones and projectiles.According to the test results, the US command said that this was the first combat use of the laser during maneuvers in the army, and the technology can already be considered ready. By the 2022 fiscal year, which will begin on October 1, 2021, the military is going to receive four Stryker armored vehicles with lasers and send them for combat operation to units performing combat tasks.
The decision to install 50-kilowatt lasers on Stryke armored combat vehicles in the US Army was made in 2017. Two years later, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon received a contract to create prototypes of the laser. The military has ordered laser systems for providing military air defense (M-SHORAD), which are capable of fighting UAVs, as well as destroying artillery shells, missiles and mines. According to the terms of the contracts, each of the corporations must deliver one prototype of a combat laser installation based on the Stryker armored personnel carrier within a year, and by 2022 produce three more installations for testing.
Northrop Grumman never finished its prototype. During testing last year, its 50-kilowatt laser module caught fire. According to the manufacturer, this was due to the thermal control and power supply management system. The developers tried to quickly fix the prototype’s malfunction, but they did not have time before the final check. Raytheon successfully brought its system to the tests and became the only contractor.
The program for creating laser systems on armored vehicles is planned to be expanded. Next year, it is planned to start testing an FMTV truck weighing ten tons with a combat laser with a power of 100 kilowatts. Such vehicles carrying ammunition, provisions and other important cargo in columns will be able to protect themselves from drones, helicopters, and small aircraft with their firepower.With the help of a laser, these machines will also be able to neutralize improvised explosive devices and standard mines. The laser installation mounted on a heavy armored HEMTT truck operates on the principle of spectral alignment of fiber lasers. In such weapons, several laser emitters are installed, the rays from which are transmitted via an optical fiber to a special combination device.
The main advantage of a laser weapon is its almost unlimited ammunition: the radiating installation shoots until it ceases to receive energy from the power source. It should be noted that the installation of powerful lasers on mobile platforms requires the installation of powerful generators that will provide energy weapons. On-board generator systems Stryker and FMTV will not be enough to provide energylasers. It is not yet known which generators are planned to be used with lasers with a capacity of 50 and 100 kilowatts. For example, now a hybrid energy installation presented by the British company Rolls-Royce is used for testing a combat laser with energy.
Currently, Lockheed Martin is developing a new combat laser with a power of 250-300 kilowatts, which can be used as part of air defense systems.