A Raytheon Technologies business has received a $15.5 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center to provide a modified version of the company’s high-energy laser weapon system.
Raytheon Intelligence and Space said Wednesday it secured the award through the System of Systems Consortium and will supply HELWS to AFLCMC, which will then evaluate the weapon's potential to help air bases target threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles.
RI&S plans to execute a pallet configuration approach to delivering the directed-energy system and support Air Force testing and evaluation activities as part of acquisition procedures.
HELWS uses photons to execute threat detection, maneuvers and visual identification activities, according to RI&S’ website.
The company has concluded installation and testing work for HELWS on various lightweight U.S. Army vehicles and Apache attack helicopters.