美国C4ISRNET3月15日讯
2020年9月以来,雷神公司为美国空军研制的小型野战车载强激光反蜂群无人机样机一直在海外作战试验环境进行验证,已确定是否可以转入生产阶段。该计划由空军研究实验室和空军装备部主管,2019年授予2380万美元研制2台样机系统,2020年再授予1310万美元研制第3套样机系统,每次都进行了迭代改进。第1套样机于2020年初交付,目前正在海外试验第2套样机,雷神公司强激光计划主管埃文·亨特称,对3公里远的无人机发射强激光,大约需要5秒钟可以摧毁目标。未来,该样机系统将参与美空军“基地防空与敏捷作战部署”计划、陆军“联合反蜂群无人机系统”计划的竞争研制项目。
Drone-killing, dune buggy-mounted laser gets tested overseas
Nathan Strout C4ISRNET MARCH15
Affixed to the back of an off-road vehicle, the Raytheon-built High Energy Laser Weapon System uses directed energy to defeat incoming unmanned aerial systems. (Raytheon)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is testing whether lasers mounted on the backs of dune buggies could be the counter-drone weapon the military needs.
The High Energy Laser Weapon System, or HELWS, uses directed energy to defeat incoming unmanned aerial systems — a threat that military leaders are increasingly concerned about. Drones can be small and incredibly mobile, making them difficult to hit with traditional weaponry. That’s why the Air Force and others are looking to emerging technologies including lasers and microwave weapons as possible drone-stopping solutions.
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Raytheon Technologies a $23.8 million contract in 2019 for two HELWS prototypes, granting $13.1 million later that year for a third prototype.
HELWS includes a laser module that generates the beam, a magazine that provides enough power for dozens of shots, and thermal systems to keep the whole system at the right temperature. But the most expensive component — and the one with the longest lead time — is the hybrid electro-optical infrared sensor/beam director.
“[We] inserted an optical path that allowed us to fire the laser out the primary aperture while we are sensing,” explained Evan Hunt, Raytheon’s lead for high-energy laser business development. “So the thing you are looking at is exactly the thing that your laser beam hits, which is one of the great features of the system.”
For the weapon to work, the system must keep the laser on the target throughout the engagement while directing enough energy over the distance to destroy or disable it.
“It takes us roughly 5 seconds to shoot down a drone within 3 kilometers or so,” said Hunt.
The whole system is controlled via a game-style controller and a single laptop.
“Our customers don’t really want to stand up entirely new job professions within the Air Force or the Army — to make a corps of laser weapon operators,” said Hunt. “So we very deliberately designed the interface to be easy to learn.”
Raytheon has delivered three different versions of the system to the Air Force, with the Directed Energy Combined Test Force announcing recently that HELWS2 was tested overseas beginning in September 2020. The first HELWS system was deployed in early 2020.
“They’ve been rapid prototyping, so each system we build is an iterative development,” said Hunt. “All three kind of look very similar. They’re all currently on the back of a Polaris MRZR.”
The changes aren’t massive, but each successive prototype is a little more ruggedized, better packaged, more serviceable and more powerful, said Hunt. All three iterations will likely be tested at different overseas operational locations.
“This is an operational experimentation campaign right now with these three systems. This is really Air Force SPDE [Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation] — which is Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Research Lab — working together to prove that lasers are ready to transition to production programs,” said Hunt.
Raytheon is competing for follow-on opportunities, aiming for HELWS system to be selected for the Air Force’s programs of record, such as Air Base Air Defense and Agile Combat Deployment. Hunt noted that while Army is taking the lead on systems to counter small drones, the Air Force is the lead for demonstrating the efficacy of directed-energy weapons for counter-drone missions.
The company also wants HELWS to vie for programs of record for counter unmanned aircraft systems pursued by the Army’s Joint C-SUAS Office, which trying to reduce duplication across the services by selecting a limited number of systems for development and fielding.