The US Army will soon have a new weapon system in its arsenal to help protect soldiers during convoy and troop movements. It is a high-energy laser on armored vehicles.

Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a business unit of Raytheon Technologies, has won a $123 million directed energy maneuverable short-range air defense (DE M-SHORAD) weapon system contract. The DE M-SHORAD weapon system protects mobile ground forces and equipment from threats such as unmanned aerial systems or UAS; rotorcraft; and rockets, artillery, and mortars.

The prototype system is integrated on the Stryker tank, and the Army’s Office of Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technology will deliver it to platoon operations units in 2022.

Annabel Flores, vice president of RI&S Electronic Warfare Systems, said: "The U.S. Army is taking the lead in providing soldiers with mobile high-energy laser weapons." "Two years ago, the Army set a goal to provide a powerful, mobile, and A proven laser system that can be used by operators immediately on site, and our team has demonstrated this ability."

RI&S is the main subcontractor of the main contractor KBR/Kord Technologies, and is also a subsystem developer of the DE M-SHORAD weapon system's laser weapon module, beam guide assembly and radar acquisition system.

The award was won after the US Army's DE M-SHORAD exercise held in Fort Sill, Oklahoma in the summer of 2021. The subsystems developed by RI&S have been evaluated in a series of real scenarios to evaluate the performance of the prototype weapon system and demonstrate its technological maturity and readiness.

During the exercise, the soldiers operated the system and effectively tracked, identified and attacked various targets.

Flores said: "In just a few days, the soldiers went from training to operating the system and participating in the goal, and then to providing valuable feedback to our team, which will help improve the system in the future."

Soldiers receive virtual and practical training

The Stryker crew consists of three soldiers-a driver, a crew commander and a laser gunner-are trained in the DE M-SHORAD simulator, where they can perform virtual exercises on the entire vehicle and laser system and practice the simulation Target shooting.

"This is not PowerPoint slides and technical manuals," said Justin Martin, chief engineer of RI&S high-energy lasers. "This is a very interactive training environment where they can immerse themselves in the vehicle and the laser design itself to really understand what is in the vehicle."

Soldiers need to learn the basics of lasers, laser safety, and how to operate new weapon systems from scratch. Before participating in the on-site fire drill, they spent a week in a virtual environment.

Martin said: "They did not touch the controls, nor did they see anything they weren't really immersed in before." "Laser gunners can use real video game controllers to operate weapons. This is very familiar to young soldiers, which is very interesting. help."

The DE M-SHORAD weapon system combines a 50kW-class high-energy laser, beam director, electro-optical/infrared target acquisition and tracking system, and Ku720 multi-mission radar. This provides soldiers with an effective anti-UAV system and provides counterintelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

"We made a combat prototype," Martin said. "We not only manufactured laser instruments for experimentation and research, but we also manufactured a well-integrated, sturdy and durable laser weapon on the Stryker tank for soldiers to operate. There will be four such Strykers for soldiers to use. The brigade combat team is in combat."

The Stryker is an eight-wheeled armored vehicle designed to carry infantry squads across roads and off-road to the battlefield. The vehicle has been adapted to various tasks and can support many mission equipment packages.

Prior to this, RI&S has delivered three high-energy laser weapon systems (HELWS) to the US Air Force. These systems are installed on the Polaris MRZR off-road vehicle and have accumulated more than 9,000 hours of use during operator training and operation evaluation. The high-capacity battery powers the Air Force’s 10kW-class lasers. The DE M-SHORAD 50kW class laser is also powered by a high-capacity battery, which is charged by a Stryker diesel engine.

In order to upgrade from a 10kW class laser to a 50kW class laser, RI&S needs higher power. Instead of using 4 to 6 fiber laser amplifier modules for the 10kW class laser, they used 20 to 25 modules for the 50kW class version.

"So, these modules are great, sturdy building blocks, we just added more modules to get the required power, so there is more fiber in them," Martin said. "But the real trick is to align all these individual beams into one beam with the correct characteristics of a laser weapon."

More powerful laser weapons will bring more powerful functions, such as longer range and faster defeat ability. The 50kW laser can detonate or deflect the mortar in a few seconds, while punching a hole in a small consumer drone in an instant.

Evan Hunt, Director of Requirements and Capabilities for High Energy Lasers and Anti-UAV Systems at RI&S, said the Army will use DE M-SHORAD to supplement its kinetic energy M-SHORAD Strykers fleet.

Hunter said: "High-energy lasers are very suitable for responding to the growing asymmetric threats we see in drones, rockets, artillery and mortars." "Laser weapon technology is very useful for air defense escorts for mobile fleets or troops Attractive because it has such a deep magazine. As long as Stryker has diesel, it can participate."

During the live ammunition exercise at Fort Sill, the soldiers quickly learned how to operate the prototype system and demonstrated their proficiency in target acquisition, targeting point selection, and engagement. According to Martin, the staff of DE M-SHORAD are happy to be the first to test a new weapon.

“When they sit in their seats and tap a drone with their fingers, you can see it on their faces,” he said. "They were bought, ready to advance more complex and difficult engagements. Yes, the laser weapon gunners in their seats shot down one drone after another, and after that they were believers."

The first combat prototype is used for system characterization, and any lessons learned will be incorporated into the system and the remaining three combat prototypes under construction, all of which will be delivered as a platoon in 2022.

The RI&S High Energy Laser team believes that after the U.S. Army begins to use DE M-SHORAD during missions and exercises, the service will see that no other system can provide light speed, low single-shot cost, and almost unlimited magazines, and begin large-scale Deploy vehicles.

Raytheon Technologies Corporation published this content on October 26, 2021, and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by the public at 15:15:03, October 26, 2021, UTC time, unedited and unaltered.