Washington: The US Army has awarded shipbuilder HII’s Mission Technologies division a contract to develop a high-energy laser weapon system for the service’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, according to a company statement.
“We are proud to provide a critical enabler for the Army, delivering an effective, interoperable, sustainable and scalable system that will meet force protection requirements and support US strategic objectives,” said Grant Hagen, president of Mission Technologies’ Warfare Systems group. “We look forward to collaborating with the RCCTO on this important effort that will protect the warfighter with an affordable counter-UAS solution.”
The Army used an Other Transaction Agreement for the deal, according to HII, but the company’s statement does not disclose an associated dollar amount. If successful, the technology would be transitioned into the Army’s Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space.
The laser HII will develop is envisioned to track and destroy small- to medium-sized unmanned aircraft and be equipped to either Army vehicles or stationed at bases. Using directed energy to counter hostile UAS has been a longstanding interest for the Pentagon, but the Defence Department has struggled to bring the technology past initial development and demonstrations.
“There’s been many a thesis and dissertation written on building lasers on ships, but we’ve not transitioned that into a place where that’s an acceptable way to actually take out missile systems,” Navy Adm Daryl Caudle, commander of US Fleet Forces Command, told a group of reporters in January.
Navy commanders specifically have been repeatedly pressed in public forums by the media, lawmakers and even the public about when more destroyers, like the USS Preble (DDG-88), might receive suitable directed energy weapons. The impetus for those questions has largely stemmed from reports that its warships have been using expensive Standard Missile interceptors to destroy relatively cheap Houthi drones.
For their part, Navy officials in Washington, DC, have frequently pushed back against the questions about costs, arguing that keeping sailors safe is the top priority. Furthermore, those same million-dollar missiles are ultimately protecting not just sailors, but multi-billion warships, a factor that must be considered in the cost equation, the officials contend.
On the ground, the Army too has struggled with laser-based counter-UAS concepts. In March 2024 service officials revealed that feedback from soldiers who used a 50-kilowatt laser mounted on Stryker vehicles were less than impressed.
“What we’re finding is where the challenges are with directed energy at different power levels,” Army acquisition head Doug Bush told members of the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee at the time. “That [50-kilowatt] power level is proving challenging to incorporate into a vehicle that has to move around constantly — the heat dissipation, the amount of electronics, kind of the wear and tear of a vehicle in a tactical environment versus a fixed site.”
