Army to evaluate high-power laser weapons mounted to Stryker armored combat vehicles in upcoming shoot-off

Jan. 19, 2021
Mobile-power technology, targeting algorithms, beam control, and thermal management technologies are progressing quickly to produce powerful lasers.

WASHINGTON – Stryker armored combat vehicles will incinerate enemy drones, helicopters, aircraft, missiles, rockets, and artillery with 50-kilowatt laser weapons during an upcoming combat shoot-off at Fort Sill, Okla. Kris Osborn of Warrior Maven reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

19 Jan. 2021 -- During the shoot-off, the laser-armed Strykers will face scenarios designed to test the system and establish threshold requirements for this class of laser.

For quite some time, the Army and other laser weapons developers have been working on engineering power-scaled lasers able to fire with greater strength, power, precision and range. This requires exportable sources of power, the proper form factors or hardware configurations and specially engineered laser-firing technologies built to optimize firepower.

The Army has been integrating and testing laser weapons on Strykers for quite some time and has in recent years already armed tactical vehicles with some measure of power. The reasons for this are both clear and numerous.

Related: Army on the lookout for enabling technologies in tactical laser weapons for light combat vehicles

Related: Laser weapons get ready for the big time

Related: Laser weapons show their stuff in real-world conditions

John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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