Every weapon has its nemesis. The invention of the tank led to anti-tank guns; the rise of aircraft led to anti-aircraft guns; and now the growing use of military unmanned aircraft is spurring the development of multiple types of countermeasures, including lasers, guns and jammers. Lasers are the most exotic of anti-unmanned aerial vehicle weapons, and the U.S. has several directed energy weapons projects underway. The Army’s Space and Missile Defense/Army Strategic Forces Technical Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the lead Army agency for developing high-energy laser weapons, is working on three systems with anti-UAV capabilities. The High Energy Mobile Laser Test Truck, or HELMTT, aims to demonstrate a vehicle-mounted 10-kilowatt laser rugged and practical enough to use on the battlefield. The project was originally the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD), until the Army opted to mount a smaller laser on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. HEL MD managed to shoot down a 22 to 55 pound Class 2 UAV during a 2014 test at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command plans to eventually develop a 100-kilowatt weapon. Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapon […]
