{"id":66895,"date":"2024-03-29T21:08:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/03\/29\/us-army-refreshes-competition-for-short-range-laser\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:05:28","slug":"us-army-refreshes-competition-for-short-range-laser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/techwatch\/2024\/03\/29\/us-army-refreshes-competition-for-short-range-laser\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army refreshes competition for short-range laser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">HUNTSVILLE, Ala. \u2014 The U.S. Army is evaluating additional 50-kilowatt platforms as it seeks to buy short-range air defense laser weapons, even as its initial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/battlefield-tech\/directed-energy\/2024\/03\/22\/us-testing-stryker-mounted-lasers-in-iraq-amid-middle-east-drone-boom\/\" target=\"_blank\">four prototypes deploy in U.S. Central Command\u2019s<\/a> area of operations, a service official told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three of the Army\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2023\/04\/13\/army-short-range-air-defense-laser-prototypes-take-down-drones-at-yuma\/\" target=\"_blank\">Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense systems<\/a>, or DE M-SHORAD, are in Iraq so the service can experiment with the capability in relevant operational environments. The fourth and last prototype will join the other three after getting some work done, said Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, the service\u2019s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll four will be downrange supporting our soldiers in the fight today,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re giving up a little bit is our ability to learn how to integrate that capability into the maneuver force, so we have some work to do on the back end. We\u2019re still capturing data; [the Army Test and Evaluation Command] is downrange with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, the Army will learn from two other 50-kilowatt laser platforms while the first platoon-set of prototypes are away, he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army had originally planned to finish the DE M-SHORAD prototyping effort and transition it to Program Executive Office Missiles and Space in 2023. That office had planned to run a competition for the program of record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Rasch\u2019s office<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa\/2022\/10\/14\/shorad-laser-weapon-will-stay-in-development-phase-longer-than-planned\/\" target=\"_blank\"> decided in 2022 that the directed-energy effort needed more time<\/a> in development, and planned for a fiscal 2025 transfer instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first prototypes consist of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/08\/01\/northrop-and-raytheon-to-compete-to-build-laser-weapon-for-short-range-air-defense\/\" target=\"_blank\">50-kilowatt laser from Raytheon on a Stryker combat vehicle<\/a>. Kord Technologies is the lead integrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two new 50-kilowatt platforms the Army will also evaluate, when they are arrive next year, are one option from Washington state-based nLight and another from Lockheed Martin, Rasch said. The designs are different, he added, so aspects like beam quality, affordability and reliability are also expected to differ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office now plans to spend approximately two years to evaluate options before deciding on a way forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got a few different designs, so we\u2019ll take the data from what we\u2019ve received already, the data that we collect off these other two systems, and combine that together to tee up for the senior leaders, probably late \u201926, early \u201927 time frame,\u201d Rasch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe want to maintain competition, so it doesn\u2019t really help if we spent a lot of money and almost unfair if we kind of load the deck and we pass off a program decision to, say, PEO Missiles and Space, and it really isn\u2019t a decision; you\u2019ve got one vendor who\u2019s viable,\u201d Rasch said. \u201cCompetition makes everybody better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While this effort means moving even slower, Rasch did say he \u201cwould have loved to have had them all done and be programs of record, but we probably couldn\u2019t have afforded them all anyway. So this gives us a little time to really set up a better competitive space for that next phase affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the DE M-SHORAD systems downrange, he added, the Army will learn about lethality and reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve tested these in labs for decades,\u201d Rasch said. \u201cNow we\u2019re learning some new lessons on what happens when you operationalize these, when you put them in a really ugly, dirty environment that our soldiers put them in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army is investing about $100 million a year as it prepares to make a recommendation to Army leadership on a strategy, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Right now, his office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/smd\/2022\/08\/18\/the-us-army-digs-a-new-sandbox-for-its-laser-weapons\/\" target=\"_blank\">is evaluating 10-, 20-, 50- and 300-kilowatt options <\/a>for a wide variety of threats and missions. The 300-kilowatt laser is designed for the Indirect Fire Protection Capability, which is a system that will use kinetic, laser and high-powered microwave weapons to destroy threats including rockets, artillery, mortars, drones and cruise missiles. The Army is to receive that laser weapon next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not every laser capability we be at the range at the same time, but the service plans to collect data on power, lethality, affordability and reliability across directed-energy weapons through an integrated test campaign to inform senior leaders, Rasch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The process will help the service save some money from a testing perspective and, through operational assessments with the user, capture enough data to help the Army pin down the sweet spot for what it will need to counter threats in various environments, he explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Army will begin a directed-energy test campaign to find the sweet spot for laser weapons when it comes to lethality, reliability and 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