Just how much Alfalight’s high power diode laser is/will be in demand can be seen by this selection of ongoing high-energy laser weapons projects by U.S. govt. agencies and corresponding contractors:
Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM)
U.S. govt. agency: None (commercial venture)
Contractor: Lockheed Martin
Description: Fiber, commerical off-the-shelf
Power: 10 kW
Status: Prototype stage
Gamma
U.S. govt. agency: None (commercial venture)
Contractor: Northrop Grumman
Description: Solid-state “slab” architecture
Power: 13.3 kW building blocks
Status: Initial testing completed in 2012
Excalibur
U.S. govt. agency: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Contractor Optonicus
Description: Fiber with optical phased array
Power: 10s of kW; scaling to100 kW in next 3 years Status: Demo in 2013
High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS)
U.S. govt. agency: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Contractor: General Atomics
Description: Liquid, aircraft-mountable
Power: 150 kW (10 15-kW modules)
Status: Final development phase
High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD)
U.S. govt. agency: Army
Contractor: Boeing
Description: Solid state; ground platform
Power: 10 kW; 50/100 kW lasers in development
Status: Successful test
Joint High Power Solid-State Laser
U.S. govt. agency: Army/Air Force/Navy
Contractor: Northrop Grumman
Description: Solid-state slab
Power: 105 kW (7 15-kW building blocks)
Status: Successful maritime testing in 2011
Laser Weapon System (LaWS)
U.S. govt. agency: Office of Naval Research
Contractor: Kratos
Description: Solid state; IR commercial off-the-shelf Power: Classified (possibly 15 to 50 kW)
Status: Trial deployment; installation on USS Ponce
scheduled for summer 2014
Robust Electric Laser Initiative (RELI)
U.S. govt. agency: Department of Defense
Contractor: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing
Description: Fiber, truck mounted
Power: 100 kW (goal); 60 kW laser in development
Status: Tests of 30 kW in 2013 (Boeing) and early 2014 (Lockheed)
Solid-State Laser - Technology Maturation
U.S. govt. agency: Office of Naval Research
Contractor: Kratos, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and BAE Sytems
Description: Light tactical-vehicle-mounted
Power: N/A
Status: Design stage
now add solid-state laser systems for targeting, tracking and illumination applications to the mix......... having Mr. Warrior on our board is truly priceless.
Cheers
