Last summer, Lockheed-Martin announced that it had delivered the first HELIOS system to the US Navy. [pour High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance] for a test campaign to be conducted aboard the “destroyer” USS Preble.
With power ranging from 60 to 120 kW, the HELIOS system is intended to “provide a tactically relevant combat capability as a key element of a layered defense architecture” and therefore “improve the overall effectiveness of the ship’s combat system to counter future threats and provide additional protection for sailors,” according to the industrial.
However, the US Navy is not the only one that has started developing directed-action weapons. [comme le laser]especially since they have a number of arguments to put forward, starting with the low cost of use.
In 2019, the Federal Ministry of Defense announced that it would develop a demonstrator of such a weapon and test it on board a German Navy K-130 corvette. For this purpose, a contract had been communicated to Rheinmetallwaffe Munition GmbH and MBDA Deutschland GmbH, which had set up their own working group [ARGE, pour Arbeitgeimenschaft].
A laser weapon was successfully tested under the leadership of the BAAIBW not on board a K-130 corvette, but on board the air defense frigate Sachsen [Bundesamts für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr, l’équivalent allemand de la DGA française, ndlr].
According to Rheinmetall, the first tests of this targeted weapon demonstrator began in November 2021 at the Unterlüß site. [Basse-Saxe]. Then it was installed on board the frigate Sachsen, stationed in Kiel.
After further tests near the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Ships and Naval Weapons, Marine Technology and Research to verify the connection with the ship’s radar and the ship’s electro-optical sensors, the test campaign was therefore able to begin with several “very realistic” operational scenarios.
“The planning of the tests and the provision of different types of targets on land, at sea or from the air were carried out and organized by the BAAINBw,” says the industrialist.
The first sharp shot with a high-energy#lasergun against a dynamic target was performed successfully. Involved in the one-year trial so far: ours #WTD71 and #WTD91 and die @deutschemarine together with the industry.
More at https://t.co/MFbNBgNrqU pic.twitter.com/fVgTv2GSZv— Bundeswehr AIN (@BaainBw) October 27, 2022
However, he did not give any further details, except that his teams were proud “of the results achieved and the smooth running of the tests”.
“The impressive performance of this directional weapon system [HEL] to protect surface ships from threats at short and very short range is due to the joint effort of all project participants – experts from the defense industry, government officials and, of course, sailors from the frigate Sachsen,” emphasized Thomas Baumgärtel, head of this program at Rheinmetallwaffe Munition GmbH.
If we refer a priori to a previous communication from the German group on this subject, the tested system is very likely a fiber laser demonstrator with a power of at least 20 kw, with the aim of bringing this to 100 kw .
Further tests will be carried out in the first half of 2023. “New scenarios will test the capabilities of the demonstrator” and the “results will determine what still needs to be done to have a fully functional and operational laser weapon,” said Rheinmetall and MBDA Germany.
It should be noted that the French Navy will have to test on board one of its ships the HELMA-P laser system developed by CILAS, which will make it possible to provide a “graded response to the drone threat, from blinding observation instruments to neutralization by modification the structure of a mini or micro drone [c’est-à-dire de 100g à 25kg]which causes it to fall in seconds.