WASHINGTON — The United States has demonstrated the ability to
destroy unmanned aerial vehicles with a mobile laser.
The U.S. Air Force has sponsored tests of a mobile laser weapons system
designed to destroy aircraft. The tests, conducted at the Naval Air Warfare
Center in China Lake, Calif., demonstrated the Laser Avenger, produced by
Boeing, Middle East Newsline reported. The company has been involved in other laser weapons programs for
the U.S. military.
"These tests validate the use of directed energy to negate potential
hostile threats against the homeland," Bill Baker, chief scientist of the
Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, said.
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During the trial, the Laser Avenger tracked and shot down five UAVs
under a program titled "Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated
eXperiments, or MATRIX. Operators, in what was termed a breakthrough, used a
single, high-brightness laser beam to shoot down unmanned platforms at
various ranges.
"MATRIX's performance is especially noteworthy because it demonstrated
unprecedented, ultra-precise and lethal acquisition, pointing and tracking
at long ranges using relatively low laser power," Boeing Missile Defense
Systems vice president Gary Fitzmire said.
The Laser Avenger also contains a 25 mm machine gun. Executives said the
lightweight gun was operated in what they termed a successful demonstration
of the system's hybrid energy/kinetic capability.
