For some years Rheinmetall Waffe Munition has successfully developed, realised and tested a variety of versatile high energy laser (HEL) weapon systems for air- and ground-defence scenarios like C-RAM, UXO clearing. By employing beam superimposition technology and a modular laser weapon concept, the total optical power has been successively increased. Stationary weapon platforms and now military mobile vehicles were equipped with high energy laser effectors. Our contribution summarises the most recent development stages of Rheinmetalls high energy laser weapon program. We present three different vehicle based HEL demonstrators: the 5 kW class Mobile HEL Effector Track V integrated in an M113 tank, the 20 kW class Mobile HEL Effector Wheel XX integrated in a multirole armoured vehicle GTK Boxer 8x8 and the 50 kW class Mobile HEL Effector Container L integrated in a reinforced container carried by an 8x8 truck. As a highlight, a stationary 30 kW Laser Weapon Demonstrator shows the capability to defeat saturated attacks of RAM targets and unmanned aerial vehicles. 2013 all HEL demonstrators were tested in a firing campaign at the Rheinmetall testing centre in Switzerland. Major results of these tests are presented.

Date Published: 7 October 2014
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9251, Technologies for Optical Countermeasures XI; and High-Power Lasers 2014: Technology and Systems, 92510N (7 October 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2071818

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9251:
Technologies for Optical Countermeasures XI; and High-Power Lasers 2014: Technology and Systems
David H. Titterton; Willy L. Bohn; Harro Ackermann; Mark A. Richardson; Robert J. Grasso, Editor(s)