300 kw-class. Getting better. Lockheed used Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album cover to explain the laser. lol
Lockheed Martin Delivers High-Powered Laser Tech to Pentagon
Lockheed Martin has delivered its most powerful directed energy weapon to date to the Defense Department, the company announced Sept. 15.
The 300 kilowatt-class laser was developed as part of the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative, or HELSI, which is managed by the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
The office selected Lockheed Martin to develop the 300 kW-class capability in 2019. The company has delivered the laser — the most powerful it has ever developed — ahead of schedule, according to a Lockheed Martin press release.
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The laser utilizes a “spectral beam combination architecture,” Lockheed Martin vice president of advanced product solutions Rick Cordaro said during the roundtable.
“We sort of describe [spectral beam combination] as the cover of the Pink Floyd [The Dark Side of the Moon] album where you see the light coming in — in white light — and then splitting off into the different spectrums of color,” he said. “Well, it's like doing that in reverse, where we take the different spectral elements and combine them into one high energy beam.”
The higher energy capacity of the 300 kW-class laser allows it to “engage targets at more extended standoff ranges, and to kill them quicker,” said McDermott. “The 300 kW-class laser has been the goal, really scaling up to those harder missions to engage threats like cruise missiles.”