The UK Ministry of Defence Defence Science and Know-how Laboratory (Dstl) and its companions within the DragonFire consortium have efficiently carried out the primary static excessive energy laser firing of a sovereign UK functionality on the Dstl’s vary in Porton Down on seventeenth October 2022. Utilizing QinetiQ’s phase-combined laser demonstrator, producing within the order of 50kW of energy, targeted by Leonardo’s Beam Director and delivered utilizing MBDA’s superior picture processing and command and management (C2) system, the trials confirmed that DragonFire may safely management and focus a excessive energy laser onto an especially exact level at lengthy vary. The following step will likely be to mix the outcomes of those first two trials, pairing the confirmed monitoring accuracy and the excessive energy laser, by participating targets in operationally consultant situations.
Mark Hamilton, Managing Director Electronics UK, Leonardo stated: “The DragonFire challenge attracts on our a long time of excessive power laser and beam director heritage to place the UK on the very ahead edge of what’s attainable in laser expertise. The outcomes of this stay trial, which noticed our beam director built-in into the DragonFire system, have been spectacular. We’re wanting ahead to the following levels of the programme.”
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Chris Allam, Managing Director of MBDA UK, stated, “These profitable trials are the newest step in accelerating supply of a UK sovereign laser directed power weapon (LDEW) functionality. MBDA, Leonardo, QinetiQ and Dstl working collectively are placing the UK on the forefront of analysis & expertise on this subject. The outcomes from these trials have verified evaluation and given the crew confidence that DragonFire will supply a close to time period and distinctive functionality.”
The firing was a part of a second set of checks in a collection of trials to show the accuracy and energy of the novel DragonFire laser weapon. The primary trials, introduced in July 2022, proved DragonFire can efficiently monitor, and hit, air and sea targets with exceptionally excessive accuracy. The programme’s specialist business companions are: MBDA, with general duty for the system; MBDA have developed the superior command and management (C2) and picture processing capabilities; Leonardo, who’ve developed the beam director which might monitor and level at targets with pin-point accuracy and QinetiQ’s laser specialists, who’ve constructed a phase-combined laser able to producing within the order of 50kW of energy, with the flexibility sooner or later to scale fire-power ranges.
