Army Turns To Lockheed For Alternative Laser

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/08/army-turns-to-lockheed-for-alternative-laser/



Army HEL (High Energy Laser) Mobile Demonstrator. Made by Boeing.

Army Turns To Lockheed For Alternative Laser
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on August 12, 2015 at 3:05 PM

HUNTSVILLE, ALA.: The Army is entering a new Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) for a laser weapon with defense titan Lockheed Martin, the head of Space & Missile Defense Command said today. The service’s ultimate goal is lasers light, compact, and capable enough to protect advancing troops.

The Lockheed agreement, not yet formally announced, will lead up to a live-fire test against drones and mortar rounds at White Sands Missile Range next summer. Lt. Gen. David Mann hopes to bring other companies in on the test as well.

“We’re…establishing a CRADA with Lockheed Martin, but we’re also opening the aperture to allow other industry partners to show us what they can bring to the table,” Mann told reporters at the Space & Missile Defense conference here.

The CRADA and live fire will run “in parallel” to the Army’s existing HEL-MD program, the Boeing-built, truck-mounted High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator, Mann said. “That’s kind of a proof of principle…. to take the different components, put it on a vehicle, and show that the concept is viable,” he said of HEL-MD.