Sunday, July 3, 2016

GA-ASI Perry reports SWAP progress at WSMR testing DARPA HELLADS DLWS on Predator C

Artists Concept of Predator C firing HELLADS DLWS
Dr. Michael Perry
Pentagon Cautiously Optimistic About Laser Weapons - Blog
A Predator drone armed with a 150-kilowatt laser is now being tested at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The system was built by General Atomics Aeronautical under a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This program is being watched as a harbinger for tactical laser weapons that can achieve the magic number of 5 kilograms per kilowatt.

Michael D. Perry, General Atomics vice president of laser and electro-optic systems, said the laser is close to being operational. “We shot several targets,” he said. “These are not benign things.”
Lasers are tough to work with, he said. “We have overcome reliability issues and mistakes.” The current prototype, flying on a Predator C Avenger, is getting close to where it needs to be in size, weight and power, Perry said. He praised the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren for helping contractors “bridge the valley of death” as laser systems advance in their development. “The service labs are trying to understand how to use these systems,” Perry said. “We are at the point where we are getting things to war fighters. War fighters are learning.”

Perry cautioned against rushing to create a procurement bureaucracy for systems before the users in the military services are comfortable with the technology and ready to support it. “You want to focus on getting things out on the field, instead of trying to create a $3 billion program of record,” he said. “It’s more beneficial to start with demos. We should start with two-year and three-year demonstrations.”

The Pentagon should not overplay its hand with laser weapons, Perry warned. “We should be honest about how we have to overcome” technology and policy challenges.

Lightweight, Tactical Laser Weapon System Ready for Live Fire Field Testing
SAN DIEGO – 21 May 2015 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI), a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions, today announced that the High-Energy Liquid Laser (HELLADS) completed the U.S. Government Acceptance Test Procedure and is now being shipped to the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), New Mexico. At WSMR, the laser will undergo an extensive series of live fire tests against a number of military targets.

The HELLADS Demonstrator Laser Weapon System (DLWS) is designed to demonstrate the efficacy of a tactical laser weapon in counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (CRAM), counter-Air and counter-Missile applications, as well as a number of special applications. The 150 kW Class HELLADS laser has been developed over a number of years to create a completely new approach to electrically-powered lasers with sufficiently low size, weight, and power consumption to enable deployment on a number of tactical platforms.

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