Lockheed Martin has provided an electric 300 kiloWatt-class laser to the Department of Defense’s research and engineering office for implementation in military weapon testing efforts.
DOD and the U.S. Army plan to incorporate the system into laboratory and field tests of the service branch’s Indirect Fires Protection Capability-High Energy Laser Demonstrator, a ground-based defense against cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft systems, the company said Thursday.
The defense contractor’s team in Owego, New York, and Washington state helped build its HEL technology.
Lockheed designed and developed the laser under a contract DOD awarded in 2019 to support the department’s High Energy Scaling Initiative.