Watch as a high energy laser mounted on an Apache AH-64 attack helicopter acquires and hits an unmanned target in a test.
The test was conducted by Raytheon and the US Army Apache Program Management Office at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
It was the first time a fully integrated laser system successfully shot a target from a rotary-wing aircraft over a wide variety of flight regimes, altitudes and air speeds, proving the feasibility of laser attack from Apache.
According to a media release:
“The system tracked and directed energy on a stationary target at a slant range of 1.4 kilometers. (Slant range is the line-of-sight distance between two points at different levels.)
The data collected from the test, including impact of vibration, dust and rotor downwash, will help shape future high-energy laser systems.”
Art Morrish, vice president of Advanced Concepts and Technologies for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems said:
“Our goal is to pull the future forward. This data collection shows we’re on the right track.”
For the test, Raytheon coupled a variant of the Multi-Spectral Targeting System, an advanced, electro-optical, infrared sensor, with a laser. The MTS provided targeting information, situational awareness and beam control.
