https://www.afinalwarning.com/486219.html (Natural News) Developed in conjunction with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, the United States Army has unveiled two new Stryker vehicles equipped with 50 kW-class laser weapon capabilities and support equipment.
The futuristic technology is slated to be tested at a combat shoot-out event scheduled for springtime in Fort Sill, Okla. It will be put to the test in a series of scenarios developed specifically to assess the capabilities and threshold requirements for this particular class of laser.
Whichever laser-equipped vehicle performs better will be chosen as the winner and escalated into prototype production. The winner will also demonstrate for the first time that this type of laser technology is mature enough to be ready for real-life combat.
By
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on January 11, 2021 at 5:07 PM
A swarm of 40 small drones fills the sky over the National Training Center during a 2019 exercise.
WASHINGTON: Got lasers? Jammers? Wireless hacking tools? Then check out the competition the Pentagon will formally kick off Friday, with an open invitation to industry to bring their “low collateral damage effectors” to Yuma Proving Ground this April. The objective: pick the best system or systems for all the armed services to buy to defeat small drones when physically shooting them out of the sky is too dangerous to civilians or friendly troops.
“Bring all your low-collateral effectors to the range first week of April, and we’ll select the best ones and move forward with that as the joint solution,” Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey said in a CSIS webcast Friday.
Pentagon’s first demo of small counter-drone tech set for spring January 8
Spc. Adam Wilhelmuses the Drone Defender V2 to disable a drone during training at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, on Aug. 19, 2020. (Sgt. Sirrina Martinez/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON The first opportunity for industry to demonstrate technology for the Pentagon’s enduring counter-drone capability will take place in April, according to the two-star general in charge of the joint effort. The Defense Department is developing a counter-small unmanned aircraft system capability for use domestically, in host nations and in conflict. The Pentagon established the Army-led Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO, and approved a set of requirements to help counter small drones in September 2020, which laid a path for how industry can develop technology to plug into a single command-and-control system.
Pentagon’s first demo of small counter-drone tech set for spring January 8 Spc. Adam Wilhelmuses the Drone Defender V2 to disable a drone during training at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, on Aug. 19, 2020. (Sgt. Sirrina Martinez/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON The first opportunity for industry to demonstrate technology for the Pentagon’s enduring counter-drone capability will take place in April, according to the two-star general in charge of the joint effort. The Defense Department is developing a counter-small unmanned aircraft system capability for use domestically, in host nations and in conflict. The Pentagon established the Army-led Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO, and approved a set of requirements to help counter small drones in September 2020, which laid a path for how industry can develop technology to plug into a single command-and-control system.
The goal, officials said, is operational fielding of laser systems by 2022.
“This is moving extremely fast,” said Army Col. G. Scott McLeod, program manager for the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office’s (RCCTO) Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense initiative.
“Everybody has done a great job of managing all of the technical complexity and challenges of getting these new components built and integrated so we can move to the shoot-off next year,” he said.
Army officials said the work by Raytheon and Northrop Grumman is being done in separate areas at an integration facility in Huntsville, Alabama. Keeping the two efforts separate ensured the integrity of the competition, the Pentagon said.