Boeing’s laser hunts for drones - lynnfouty1959

Boeing's portable dawdler-destroying laser scheme is one step closer to the battlefield after a recent exam.

Earlier this month in Golden State, Boeing's s-generation, compact-laser weapons system disabled a tumbling, untethered drone. That's of import as enemies can easy acquire commercially available drones — also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — and use them to deliver explosives or perform reconnaissance.

Using a optical maser of up to two kilowatts, the weapons system can center on a target located at a tactical distance up to "many hundreds of meters" by, according to a Boeing video of the technology.

It only took a few seconds for the drone to ignite and crash. The optical maser is typically aimed at the tail of the drone because, erst that plane section of the drone is disabled, information technology becomes impossible to control the drone, according to Dave DeYoung, director of laser and electro-sense modality systems at Boeing.

Boeing

Boeing's two-kilowatt compact optical maser weapons system is fired at a target in a laboratory causing it to almost instantly ignite in a quiz connected Honorable 26, 2022.

Sometimes IT doesn't make sense to fire a missile, which may home in price from $30,000 to $3 billion, at a pilotless aircraft that Crataegus oxycantha toll a few thousand dollars, he said in an interview.

IT costs "a couple of dollars" for each firing of the newfound laser weapons system, he said.

"It's non an either-OR situation," he said. "There will be instances when missiles nominate sense."

One of the drawbacks of using lasers, DeYoung said, is that pastel, unlike a projectile, keeps going. The Boeing weapon uses a safeguard to make sure on that point is a clear telephone line of sight both to and beyond the target.

Boeing is developing the laser system for the U.S. military and wouldn't reveal certain details the like its effective scope Oregon monetary value. DeYoung did say that the laser is a commercial, off-the-ledge product and that Boeing developed the ascendance and target acquisition system.

Boeing

Boeing's compact laser weapons system is capable to track drones even if they perform evasive maneuvers.

Helium too said that while the military will be the of import client, the product would be available for habituate in broader applications and that "there isn't a market we wouldn't explore."

In previous tests, the system was able to objective and destroy a tethered drone. This recently test challenged the organization to track a drone pipe in the air.

This fresh organization is portable and packs up into four large plastic boxes. It tooshie be keep going a generator and takes nearly two cups (473 millimeters) of diesel fire to power.

The beam director on Boeing's Silent Strike is responsible for aiming the 2-kW optical maser.

DeYoung said that Boeing is collecting feedback from the U.S. Defense and incorporating it into promote iterations of the prototype, but wouldn't display the commercialization timeline. The previous multiplication of the laser system took about two years to develop.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/423280/boeings-laser-hunts-for-drones.html

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