72 U.S. Army Stryker combat vehicles soon could be outfitted with laser cannons

The U.S. Army finds itself having to think of drones as a potential foe, and figure out new ways to shoot them down. To do that, the Army has announced a request for information inviting defense contractors to propose a counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system for defending ground forces against drone attacks from the air. Dubbed Interim Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD), the weapons system that the Army is looking for would go on an existing platform, like the General Dynamics Stryker armored combat vehicle, and be compatible with an existing air-search radar system, like the Thales-Raytheon AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel air-defense radar. IM-SHORAD would comprise three separate, selectable defensive weapons for use against a fixed-wing aircraft, a helicopter, or a drone; a missile battery armed with four Stinger missiles or four Hellfires; a machine gun of at least .50 caliber; and a "non-kinetic effector" such as a laser weapon to engage and counter unmanned aircraft. The Pentagon plans to issue an official request for proposals to build these weapons at scale next year. Then, after picking a winning bid, the Pentagon will place an order for 36 defensive systems to be installed on Stryker armored personnel carriers by the end of 2020, followed by another 36 units ordered at the end of 2021.