| How cool is this!
From Jane's coverage of DSEi, day 2:
Tuesday, 11 September, 2007
Raytheon Missile Systems (Stand 1355) has begun engineering development activities and proof-of-concept testing intended to yield a nextgeneration Phalanx close-in weapon system using a high energy laser, company officials have told the DSEi Show Daily.
The new system would see a laser augment or replace the M61A1 20mm Gatling gun used by the current Phalanx system — deployed by more than 20 navies worldwide — and its land-based counterpart Centurion. The latter system, optimised to defend against rockets, artillery and mortars, has been rushed into service to provide indirect fire defence for US and UK forces in Iraq. Kevin Peppe, Raytheon’s Phalanx programme director, said: “The Centurion system has provided a near-term C-RAM (Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortars) solution for our deployed forces. But we know that our customers would like a larger defended footprint beyond the kinematics of a gunbased system. “A missile is too expensive, so we are looking instead at a solution based on the adaptation of a robust but relatively lowpower, low beam-quality commercial laser.” According to Peppe, such a solution would offer a faster time to intercept, and an effective range about three times that of the existing M61A1 gun. “It would also have significantly lower life-cycle costs,” he added.
A proof-of-concept experiment was performed in 2006 in conjunction with Sandia Labs in New Mexico. “By using clever optics to focus the laser beam at range, we demonstrated that we could achieve sufficient energy on target to deflagrate a 60mm mortar round,” Peppe said. Raytheon is confident that the technology is now mature enough to allow a laser-based Centurion to be fielded in the C-RAM application by 2010.According to Peppe, similar technology could also be applied to the shipborne Phalanx system. “The maritime atmosphere presents some challenges because of the increased moisture in the atmosphere,” he explained. “But, with the development of higher power industrial lasers proceeding apace, we are confident that we could keep a beam of sufficient energy on an incoming anti-ship missile long enough to rupture the airframe. It would also have applications against UAVs and swarms of fast attack craft.”
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