The British Army has successfully trialled Raytheon UK’s High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) for the first time against targets, engaging moving aerial targets during a live-fire exercise at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) range in Wales.
Raytheon UK, part of RTX’s Raytheon business, announced that its High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) completed a successful live-firing with the British Army directed against moving aerial targets.
The trial, conducted at a military range in Wales, is the latest stage of the Ministry of Defence’s Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) demonstrator programme and saw British soldiers operating Raytheon’s HELWS by successfully tracking and neutralising moving aerial targets.
Part of the MoD’s Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) demonstrator programme, the trial marks a significant milestone in integrating advanced directed energy weapons into the British Army’s arsenal.
The HELWS, mounted on an armoured vehicle, was operated by British soldiers trained in its targeting and tracking technologies, achieving successful lock-ons and neutralisations.
James Gray, CEO and Managing Director of Raytheon UK, highlighted the importance of this achievement:
“Our High-Energy Laser Weapon System has been used in operations globally, and now the British Army is experimenting with this game-changing capability. The success of this test is the result of the skill, dedication, and vision of our scientists and engineers who have collaborated with the British Army to help fulfil its commitment to staying at the forefront of technological innovation.”
This tria against moving aerial targets is a first for the UK from a British Army vehicle, showcasing a laser weapon system mounted on a land vehicle. Raytheon’s HELWS operates by directing an intense energy beam at targets, guided by advanced sensors and real-time tracking systems.
Matt Cork, Head of Team Hersa, the joint enterprise between Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), highlighted the collaborative effort behind the trial:
“This milestone demonstrates the power of collaboration between Dstl, DE&S industry partners, and the British Army. By integrating advanced directed energy technologies onto armoured platforms, we’re not only proving the feasibility of these game-changing systems but also accelerating their path to operational readiness. It’s an exciting step forward in redefining the future of defence capability.”
If the technology is mature enough then I’m sure the Ukranians will be happy to trial it in a real-life situation and will help with our own research.
The downside would be the possibility of it ending up in Vlad’s grubby hands. No doubt the real world usage data would be invaluable.
Indeed referring to my contribution below both microwave and laser systems would be compromised (though microwave in particular) if they fell into enemy hands and is why the US is looking at testing in Syria/Iraq in realistic scenarios and no mention of Ukraine. Fact is such systems would need US, or in this case UK (and maybe US considering it’s a US derived system) personnel using and protecting them (there were similar issues when Dragonfire was mentioned in an Ukraine context earlier in the year) That’s highly unlikely to happen as it would be seen as western direct involvement by the Russians and realistically as with their own version the US would not allow us to use there even if we wanted too esp as the decision would be in Trumps hands. Equally as I refer to in my other contribution if using higher powered lasers on vehicles is indeed encountering over heating problems precluding shots on the move or multiple shots it’s not really yet ready for such environments.
Yes, I am certain they would.
SO – this is what obliterated the Indigenous Hawaiian children and their families in Maui. Scorched and vaporized to dust!
I’m guessing it might mounted on a Wolfhound??
It is.
Seems a top class capability, as long as it’s brought in quickly.
Interestingly yesterday watched a YouTube video about the US programme for developing anti drone defence via microwave and laser mobile defence systems ie Epirus Leonides microwave technology which has been given new impetus due to events in Ukraine and drone attacks on its outposts in Iraq/Syria. While it claimed the microwave aspect of this was very effective and focused on current drone technology, it did state that its modularity was vital so that it could constantly be updated to handle likely electronic hardening techniques. More relevantly it stated that they were having issues with their vehicle mounted lasers in relation to upping the power whereby they were encountering cooling problems and thus while dealing with single drones while stationary was no problem, engaging multiple drones while on the move was currently not feasible. So I wonder to what extent this problem will equally affect this platform. It seems based on this article that area of operation has not yet been attempted here so while success is always welcome one has to cautious at this stage. Interestingly there was also the desire to put the system into the field ie Middle East mind (Ukraine wasn’t mentioned, too sensitive I suspect), to test its capabilities in an operational context. We also I note are looking at a combined laser/microwave aspect to drone defence, I don’t know what if any overlap to the US programme exists (I assume that it does with the Raytheon system there) but not sure who the video was referring to in regard to the laser up powering issues as it was more concerned with the microwave system and not specific. I can find two efforts, the Raytheon 50kw system that no doubt relates to the article here, or the Blue Halo/Leonardo system or perhaps the issues relate more generally to the concept of high powered lasers on vehicles more generally.
The Raytheon UK system maxes out at 15kW and is only to defend against NATO class 1 drones, which would include FPV drones. I don’t know if that’s fortuitous or planned. I think the Americans trialled their version of this on a dune buggy.
The UK also has its own microwave defence system in testing at present.
SO – this is what obliterated the Indigenous Hawaiian children and their families in Maui. Scorched and vaporized to dust!
Billy. ???
There were wildfires there in Aug 2023. Is that what you are talking about?
Good news, but surely we should have been able to do this some years ago.
Cutting edge technology programmes are not being progressed fast enough, given that the army has shrunk by nearly 50,000 posts since the early 90s (or a loss of 90,000 posts since the tail end of the Cold War)…..therefore need greater firepower to offset this huge loss of mass.
Not really…
Lasers in the KW range are funnily enough, very energy intensive. Producing the probably 50+KW needed by the system to power the laser, power the mount and computers and to power the cooling system just wasn’t feasible. It’s not because we’ve got better at producing power though, it’s we’ve got better at using it.
Experiments with inertial confined fusion helped us to develop much better lasing technology, and heat pump advancements thanks to a drive for energy efficient cooling and heating have massively reduced the power requirements. I remember reading a post a long time ago that for a 1KW effective output power laser, they needed 100KW for powering it, cooling it, the weight was atrocious…
Now to mention the computational power needed to aim the thing at anything other than a stationary target. Most anti-aircraft weapons these days use guidance, radar, thermal etc… but before those developments we used flak which had exploding shells, or we use something like CWIZ that just throws so much metal on the air, it’s a statistical probability that it will hit the target.
Tbh we aren’t even set the point yet where this is an effective weapon for ground vehicles, but for stationary installations or use in naval situations, that’s achievable. Just about
Thanks Spec, I thought DEW are not particularly new (the Nazis had the Rheotron (X-Ray synchotron, rather than laser, though) in 1945) so your details are useful.
Something for SDSR to get ordered in. The army could probably use at least a hundred of these and UK GBAD another hundred to protect key infrastructure and military sites.
UK GBAD needs sorting out and this system could become part of the required Triad. Long range anti ballistic missiles, shorter range Land Ceptor type area air defence missiles, radar guided guns think phalanx and/ or 40 mm Bofors and then line of sight weapons such as these directed energy weapons for final points defence
Silly questions. Being a high powered laser wouldn’t this alsi be dangerous for the users close by and potentially blinding if looked at or exposed to for short or long periods of time? How short is the pulse of the laser as could it reveal its source?
Silly questions. Being a high powered laser wouldn’t this alsi be dangerous for the users close by and potentially blinding if looked at or exposed to for short or long periods of time? How short is the pulse of the laser as could it reveal its source?
Yes, if you were in-line with the laser and looked directly at the spot, depending on the focus and diameter of the beam, will determine if you are completely blinded in one eye or only partially blinded. Where the laser spot burns a circular area in the back of the eyeball. There may be a case of it also boiling the vitreous humor or damaging the eye’s lens. If you are standing parallel to the beam and look at the beam, it shouldn’t damage your eyes. Without specific active googles you won’t see it as it transmits in the infrared spectrum.
A lot of these laser weapon systems use two lasers. The first using a low powered laser operating using a continuous waveform, which is used for measuring and tracking the target. Then the main laser is fired using a pulse train. The pulse holds more energy in the packet and the pulsing helps to burn through material. The length of the transmitted pulse train is determined by how quickly the laser spot can burn through the target’s skin and get to something vital within the structure such as a battery etc.
Another awesome reply Davey! Thank you for all the detail. A bit of a tangent on this, could jet aircraft theoretically use energy from their engines to power airborne lasers? They could have potentially non-stop shots while flying!?
Sorry, entered twice.
Sounds like a fun evening.
😂
An “MoD range in Wales” I assume means Manorbier, on the coast, which is often used by RA GBAD units.
Correction. Radnor range, apparently.
Ragnor range? Is the near Ragnarok?
( could also be Castlemartin)
Radnor. Admittedly one I’d not heard of.
Ok. I’ve located it. Radnor is a privately run ( and assume owned ) range and it is nowhere near Castlemartin TA or Manorbier.
Literally in the middle of nowhere.
Interesting.
More rayguns merci beau coup, hand held ones will be cool 😎.
Make peace you idiots. ❤️✌️
Two thoughts.
If you want peace. Prepare for war.
Secondly, it should not be the western democracies who disarm first.
The aggressors have demonstrated that their delusions of empire and dominion over peace loving people is the problem.
For example the crimlin myth of NATO expansion being an offensive threat to the motherland, whereas it is the behaviour of the aggressors that causes peaceful nations to apply for membership of the defence alliance…
NATO expansion is no myth. NATO has expanded hugely in phases since 1949. What is your point?
NATO is a defensive alliance and no threat to peace-loving non-member nations.
The laser should be fitted in a F35, and can be used to stealthily creep up to Russian surveillance aircraft from behind, and fire the laser into the back of the jet engines, to cause an engine failure 😁😆
Burning Kerosene is already hot so it is unlikely to work as you describe with heat protection a major element of the engine architecture. Burning through the fuel supply or control systems are much more likely to result in massive failure.
my worries id how fast can it take down a target? if takes xxseconds to disable a unit could be easily overwhlemed by sending llllllots of cheap drones
Being tested in a Wales, where the Welsh pronunciation of HELWS is “Hellos!”.
Brecon no doubt
Chasing failure as usual.
Railguns are the next step and much more effective
Based on what?
If we can mature the technology of DEW then it is ideal for anti-drone defence and could be used against other slow-moving targets, air or ground based.
Rail guns as with conventional guns, requires carrying an ammo supply and the cost of producing that ammo. In the context of counter drones DEW nullifies those costs,
***countering***
Dave, DEW is not a failed approach – it produces results. Rail guns are valid too. More than one way to skin a cat.
Am on sky
What?