It may look like R2-D2 from Star Wars slapped on top of a dune buggy, but Raytheon says its new laser weapon holds the promise of providing maneuver formations with portable air defenses against drones.
"This can identify a quadcopter out to five clicks," or 5,000 meters, and then fry it with a laser, said Evan Hunt, business development lead for high-energy lasers at Raytheon.
The system can operate remotely or as part of an integrated air defense network, he said.
"You can park it at the end of a runway or at a [forward operating base]," Hunt said.
But one of its main advantages, he said, is that the laser can be carried by an off-road vehicle with maneuver formations to provide defense against unmanned aerial systems, or drones.
"Basically, we're putting a laser on a dune buggy to knock drones out of the sky," Dr. Ben Allison, director of Raytheon's high-energy laser product line, said in a company release......snip~
https://www.military.com/defensetech...adcopters.html
That's Right.....lets get those laser systems up and running. Oh and do not share this tech with anybody. What say ye?