Reaper Drone Now Armed With Air-to-Air Laser Attack Weapon
General Atomics displayed a new airborne laser pod that would be used on its MQ-9B drone
Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News · April 21, 2025
By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
The Pentagon has looked at arming fighter planes with lasers. Now, the US is one step closer toward fielding an air-to-air laser – this time on a drone. Veteran apparel
Earlier this month at the Sea Air Space 2025 exhibition in National Harbor, Md., General Atomics displayed a new airborne laser pod that would be used on its MQ-9B drone. The company’s booth at the exhibition had a display of an MQ-9 with a laser pod firing at Shahed-style attack drones approaching a warship (the Shahed is an Iranian-designed unmanned aircraft sometimes referred to as a kamikaze drone).
According to Naval News, the pod holds a 25kW distributed gain laser with a ram air intake for cooling. Distributed gain technology uses material that amplifies light through which the light source passes. It requires a smaller cooling system than a bigger gain medium – making it more practical for use on an airborne platform.
“The system’s large optical aperture and efficient cooling offers significant reductions in size and weight to suit air, land and sea-based platforms,” General Atomics said in a news release.
https://warriormaven.com/air/reaper-drone-now-armed-with-air-to-air-laser-attack-weapon
