Army Strykers Destroy Attacking Drones & Mortars With 50kw Laser
Fast-developing High Energy Laser weapons are increasingly able to expand the attack envelope for Army ground units facing enemy air attacks
U.S. ARMY | MARINES NEWS
By Kris Osborn - President, Center for Military Modernization
(Washington D.C.) Army Strykers recently incinerated incoming mortar fire and drones with a vehicle-fired 50kW laser weapon, breaking new ground with the fast-developing High Energy Laser weapon increasingly able to expand the attack envelope for ground units facing enemy air attacks.
Drone attacks, precision artillery, helicopter weapons, fixed-wing threats and mortar fire are all clear dangers to a moving armored formation such as a maneuvering Stryker Infantry Brigade Combat Team closing with an enemy. However, the troubling realization among many Army ground war leaders following the 15 years of counterinsurgency in the War on Terrorism, is that the US Army’s Cold War Air Defense readiness had severely “atrophied” while fighting in environments with little to no air threat.
Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense
The Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, called DE M-SHORAD, is a fast-evolving, cutting edge effort to address this deficit. The DE M-SHORAD destroyed drones and 60mm mortars during a key operational assessment of the HEL weapon at White Sands Missile Range, NM. Made by Raytheon, the HEL is engineered with an “automated queuing” from electro-optical/infrared sensors and scalable power levels.
https://warriormaven.com/land/army-strykers-drones-laser-directed-energy-maneuver-short-range-air-defense
