Raytheon awarded $11M for Humvee-mounted directed-energy laser weapons
Under a U.S. Office of Naval Research program and with the award of an $11 million dollar contract, Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) will develop a vehicle-based laser device capable of defeating low-flying threats such as enemy drones. The Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD) Directed Energy On-the-Move Future Naval Capabilities program calls for a field demonstration of a Humvee-mounted short-range laser weapon system with a minimum power output of 25 kW. The Raytheon-built laser will be packaged to meet the U.S. Marine Corps' demanding size, weight, and power requirements.
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"Raytheon's laser solution generates high power output in a small, light-weight rugged package ideally suited for mobile platforms," said Bill Hart, vice president of Raytheon Space Systems.
Raytheon's planar waveguide (PWG) technology is the key to its unique approach to high energy lasers. Using a single PWG, the size and shape of a 12 inch ruler, Raytheon high-energy lasers generate sufficient power to effectively engage small aircraft.
"Our PWG laser architecture is scalable: We can achieve increasingly higher power levels with the same compact design we're using for GBAD," Hart said.
Raytheon Company, with 2013 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees worldwide, specializes in defense, security, and civil markets throughout the world.
SOURCE: Raytheon; http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2628
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.