The US Marine Corps (USMC) is soon going to increase the laser power for a project meant to provide mobile air defence for ground forces.
Working with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), marines hope to eventually field a Ground-Based Air Defense (GBAD) Directed Energy On-the-Move system that encompasses a vehicle-mounted high-energy laser; mounted command, control, and communications (C3) suite; and mounted volumetric surveillance radar.
Russia's air defenses will have the ability to effectively repel hypersonic attacks by 2020, according to the Russian Ground Forces' Air Defense Force chief Alexander Leonov.
Russia’s Air Defense Force has focused its R&D efforts on second-to-none military equipment which will allow Moscow to effectively eliminate all types of enemy air attacks, including those using hypersonic technologies, RIA Novosti reported.
The news agency quoted the Russian Ground Forces' Air Defense Force chief Alexander Leonov as saying that the country's next generation air defense systems are set to enter service before the end of 2019.
"Creating next generation air defenses capable of effectively fighting all types of air attacks, including hypersonic ones, is one of the main directions of development of Russia's air defense forces until 2020," Leonov said.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems showcased its Iron Beam high-energy laser (HEL) system at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (ADEX) 2015.
The short-range counter rocket artillery and mortar (C-RAM) and counter unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system was the centrepiece system for the Israeli manufacturer at the event running from 20 to 25 October.
First unveiled at the Singapore Airshow in 2014, Iron Beam is a mobile ground-based system that comprises an air defence radar, a command and control (C2) unit, and two HEL systems. The system can be configured in ISO shipping containers for mounting in a stationary location or on a truck or armoured vehicle, depending on the customer's requirements.
As previously described to IHS Jane's , the air defence radar first acquires the incoming round or UAV before a thermal camera takes over the tracking ahead of it being engaged simultaneously by two HELs.
According to Rafael, the lasers focus their beams into an area 'about the size of a coin', destroying the target out to a range of about 2 km. The company has declined to divulge specific power levels for the HELs, except to say that they are currently working with "tens of kilowatts", but expects to move into the "hundreds of kilowatts" in the future. Rafael does not produce the lasers itself, but sources them from several unnamed suppliers.
The Office of Naval Research is testing a solid-state, vehicle-mounted laser weapon designed to incinerate a range of air and ground targets such as enemy drones, rockets and even IEDs, service officials told Military.com.
“Air defense covers rockets, artillery, mortars, UAVs, vehicles and IEDs – anything you can kill with a laser. This program is focused on going after the UAV threat. As we move into the future that broader threat set is fair game,” said Lee Mastroianni, program manager for the so-called Ground-Based Air Defense Directed Energy On-the-Move Program, or GBAD,
Using volumetric radar, command and control systems and a laser kill platform, the GBAD is a small, compact mobile weapons system designed to integrate onto a HMMWV or Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, said Mastroianni.
The GBAD is being prepared for a 10-kilowatt laser weapon demonstration in February of next year, Mastroianni explained.
Upcoming demonstrations are likely to be held at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va., China Lake, Calif., or White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
“We’ve already done a demo detecting the passing of information to the laser kill platform and tracking and targeting,” he said. “In February we will be doing an end-to-end demonstration using surrogate technologies.
“As we move into 2016 and 2017, we’ll be working with our objective laser of 30-kilowatts and moving toward actual on-the-move targets. We will move around the battlespace to identify, track and mitigate the targets.”
The ONR research and development program for the GBAD is slated to finish up by 2017 in order to transition the effort to the Marine Corps. At this point, the plans are to then move the program into an Engineering Manufacturing and Development, or EMD, acquisition phase before heading toward formal production and delivery for operational use.
Two Chinese fighter jets flew within 50 meters of two Japanese surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea over the past weekend, according to defense officials with both countries.
Two Su-27 Chinese fighters intercepted a Japanese OP-3C surveillance plane and a YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft on Saturday near a string of islands in the East China Sea.
China and Japan have a dispute over the island chain because of the belief the area has vast oil resources undersea. The island chain is called the Senkaku Islands in Japanese and the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese.
In order to flex its military muscle and boost their hold on the island chain, China declared a no-fly zone over the region. The U.S. flew B-52 bombers without informing the Chinese when the no-fly zone area was declared, but later said U.S. pilots would inform China when their aircraft were in the region.
China’s intercept of the two surveillance aircraft is the first major aviation engagement since the no-fly zone was declared by China.
Akash, the indigenously designed developed and produced Surface to Air missile for the Indian Army, was once again successfully flight tested today at the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.
These were part of a series of trials being conducted in various engagement modes from the first of Production Model system being produced to equip two regiments of Indian Army.
Both today’s flight destroying a target in receding ting mode, as well as the one conducted on 21st Feb 2014 destroying an approaching target, fully met the mission objectives and few more trials are planned in different engagement modes.
“Development and production of Akash weapon system with the active participation of DRDO labs, Public Sector Units (PSUs), Ordnance Factories, National R&D Laboratories, academic Institutions and about 200 private industries is yet another symbol of India’s strength in making indigenous weapon systems”, stated Shri Avinash Chander, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri and Secretary Dept of Defence R&D, congratulating the production agencies, Indian Army and DRDO team. “The successful trials show the continuing excellence of Indian weapon systems”.
Akash is India’s first indigenously designed, developed and produced air defence system Surface to Air missile capable of engaging aerial threats upto a distance of approximately 25 kms. The multi target, multi directional, all weather air-defense system consisting of surveillance and tracking radars, control centers and ground support systems mounted on high mobility vehicles for the “Army” version of Akash is designed to enable integration with other air defense command and control networks through secured communication links.
Israeli arms giant Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. is to unveil a new laser defense system at a conference in Singapore in February, Rafael said on its website.
The new system, Iron Beam, is a high-energy, laser-based defensive system designed to knock mortar rounds, artillery shells and other projectiles out of the sky, according to a report Saturday on the industry website Israel Defense
Iron Beam is designed to complement the Iron Dome missile defense system by focusing on smaller projectiles and “pinpoint defense,” the report noted.
