Category: Laser weapons and directed energy

US Air Force THOR microwave cannon knocked out a swarm of drones during testing

Since the 2018 attack on Russia's Khmeimem air base in Syria by a swarm of 13 drones armed with ammunition and launched from a small village 70 km away from it, the risk posed by drone swarms has become one of the priorities of the US Air Force, which must ensure the protection of many bases exposed to this type of attack in the world. Too small to be taken into account by traditional anti-aircraft systems, too fast to be destroyed by small arms, and too numerous for directed energy systems such as high energy lasers, swarms...

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These 7 technologies that will transform warfare by 2030

Since the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, many analyses, including on this site, have focused on the different lessons that these very high intensity combats have brought to light, such as the now indisputable role of the tank but also artillery, coastal or anti-aircraft defenses, and of course drones, to speak only of the technological question. And in fact, many armies have evolved their military planning in recent months precisely to respond to these lessons. This is how Poland embarked on an unprecedented effort to reconstitute a very powerful land force aligning 6 divisions,…

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Why is the cruiser once again becoming a credible option for world navies?

On July 9, 1995, the USS Port Royal entered service, the last Ticonderoga-class cruiser to join the US Navy, but also the last cruiser produced in the West, or at least designated as such. On a planetary scale, it was only followed by the Russian nuclear battlecruiser Piotr Veliki (Peter the Great), the 3rd and last unit of the Kirov class to have joined the Russian Navy in 1998 after 15 years of construction and that the last 3 units were canceled following the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Following this, none of the world's major navies produced a cruiser, until…

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The next generation of combat aircraft will have to rely on new support aircraft

In recent years, the race has been launched between the major aeronautical powers to develop a new generation fighter. Whether it is the NGAD of the US Air Force, the NGAD F/A-XX of the US Navy, the Franco-Spanish-German SCAF, the Italian-British-Japanese FCAS, or the still secret Chinese program , these 6th generation devices will bring new capabilities creating a clean break with previous generations, much more than those supposed to define the dubious 5th generation. Through their cooperative engagement capabilities, drone control, and performance unparalleled with current aircraft, these fighters will allow air forces to retain for decades to come...

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The US Army's Leonidas microwave energy program reaches a new milestone

Long-range suicide drones like rodent munitions have unquestionably been one of the most significant technological military revelations in recent years. Easy and economical to produce, with a high destructive capacity, a range that can exceed 2000 km and near-metric precision, these drones represent a weapon with strategic capability once produced in large quantities, even for a country that does not have very significant resources. And if the term "Game Changer" is often overused and used wrongly in terms of weapon systems, it unquestionably applies to these new light drones, as it is today...

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The US Army postpones the production of its Stryker DE M-SHORAD Guardian

With hypersonic weapons and advanced command and communication systems at the heart of the JDAC2 doctrine, directed energy weapons are today one of the main priorities of the Pentagon, and all of the American armies are committed to the development of several of these systems, whether high-energy lasers or microwave guns, both to protect ground troops and infrastructure, as well as combat ships and even aircraft. If the US Navy had long been at the forefront in this area, with the 60 Kw Helios system, the US Army has produced a very significant effort these…

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Israel's Iron Beam laser anti-aircraft system could enter service in less than 3 years

Last April, teams from the industrialist Rafael and the Israeli army carried out a first "life-size" test of the Iron Beam anti-aircraft system, a defense device based on a high-energy laser with a power of more than 100 Kw . During these trials, Iron Beam demonstrated its ability to intercept and destroy not only light drones, but also artillery rockets and mortar shells with precision, efficiency and velocity. These successes have apparently finished convincing the Israeli armed forces, which now plan to acquire this system in the surprisingly near future, between two and three years, so…

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Lockheed-Martin has delivered a 300 Kw high-energy laser to the US Department of Defense

Directed Energy weapons are, in the eyes of the Pentagon and the American armies, the preferred solution to respond to the evolution of aerial threats, in particular with regard to drones of all sizes and cruise missiles. As part of the Indirect Fires Protection Capability – High Energy Laser, or IFPC-HEL program, the manufacturer Lockheed-Martin has just delivered a laser with a power of 300 Kw to the Department of La Défense. This laser will take part in experiments as part of the IFPC-HEL program by the end of the year, and is the culmination of a united effort in 2019 to acquire a high-energy laser of…

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12 aircraft carriers, 150 destroyers and frigates, 66 SNA ..: the new plan of the US Navy finally meets the Chinese challenge

As we have already discussed several times, the US Navy's capability planning has been chaotic to say the least over the past 20 years, between reckless spending on certain poorly calibrated programs such as the Zumwalt destroyers and the LCS corvettes, and trade-offs contradictions on the part of the White House and Congress. The challenge was therefore considerable for Admiral Gilday, the Chief of Naval Operations, to restore order to this planning, while putting the American executive and legislative branches in the same direction, in order to take up what seems good represent the greatest challenge to U.S. naval power in…

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SHIELD airborne system's high-energy laser soon ready for testing

Since the mid-60s, increasingly modern anti-aircraft defenses have continued to pose a growing threat to air forces, and to armies which, like Western forces, base most of their firepower on this component. The Vietnam War, then that of Yom Kippur, made the staffs aware of this threat, leading to the design of new aircraft designed to challenge these systems, either based on stealth like the F-117A Nighthawk, or on the low-altitude, high-speed penetration like the Tornado, the Su-24, the F-111. The Gulf War...

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