{"id":22040,"date":"2019-05-10T04:01:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/10\/rolls-royce-unveils-hybrid-power-system-for-laser-weapons\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:59:49","slug":"rolls-royce-unveils-hybrid-power-system-for-laser-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/2019\/05\/10\/rolls-royce-unveils-hybrid-power-system-for-laser-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce unveils hybrid power system for laser weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rolls-Royce has designed and tested an Integrated Power and Thermal Management System technology demonstrator. The compact system is suitable for multiple platforms, with initial power provided by batteries or a Rolls-Royce M250 gas-turbine engine. The system enables instantaneous power availability and continuous operations, as long as fuel is provide to the engine. The technology demonstrator was developed and funded by Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks in Indianapolis, IN, to prove out capability for directed energy applications. (Photo courtesy of Rolls-Royce)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Rolls-Royce has been quietly developing an integral system required to operate laser weapons on the battlefield <\/a>for about a decade in its LibertyWorks division, which is the company\u2019s internal advanced technology unit based in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the company is ready to go public on the technology it has internally funded, having taken it through extensive testing, Mark Wilson, LibertyWorks\u2019 chief operating officer, told Defense News in a May 9 interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That technology is an integrated power and thermal management system capable of powering a 100-kilowatt-class laser weapon, according to Wilson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system uses the company\u2019s well-known M250 helicopter engine \u2014 that was used in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter and is also found in the Little Bird and the AH-6i helicopters \u2014 which allows the system to generate roughly 300 kilowatts of electrical power and 200 kilowatts of thermal management capacity, Wilson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the system is also considered hybrid as it combines a battery with the engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolls-Royce is \u201ca power and propulsion company and so about 10 years ago, we started thinking more about electrification. You can see it in today\u2019s hybrid cars, hybrid trains, same thing in marine applications,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw this capability of using a turbine engine and a battery combined to operate propulsion systems was potentially coming,\u201d Wilson said, \u201cso we started looking at electrification and then said, \u2018Oh, there are also some unique opportunities when you look at what a directed-energy system <\/a>needs. It needs a lot of power, it needs to be power dense and needs thermal technology as well and we are good at those types of capabilities.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The engine \u201callows us to have continuous operations as long as you have fuel available,\u201d which leads to an endless magazine of laser shots, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battery allows \u201cinstantaneous power, so you don\u2019t have to have the engine running all the time,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cYou can start running on the battery and then switch over to the turbine engine once it\u2019s up to speed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the engine, when it\u2019s running, can recharge the battery, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t