Boeing Laser Systems Destroy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Tests

US-based Boeing showcased the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to track and destroy small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The capability of the mobile laser weapon was exhibited at the Naval Air Warfare Centre in California, during tests conducted in May this year, when the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX) used a single high-brightness laser beam to shoot down five UAVs at various ranges.

"The Air Force and Boeing achieved a directed-energy (DE) breakthrough with these tests," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Missile Defence Systems' Directed Energy Systems unit. "MATRIX's performance is especially noteworthy because it demonstrated unprecedented, ultra-precise and lethal acquisition, pointing and tracking at long ranges using relatively low laser power."

For years, people have said that DE weapons would not work in the real world since the power requirement would be to high. But in papers like this "Vision for DE Weapons" the authors argue that the power requirements could be reduced through design.

Boeing has been developing laser weapon systems for a variety of U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy applications. These systems include the Airborne Laser, Advanced Tactical Laser, Free Electron Laser, High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator and Tactical Relay Mirror System.