Raytheon-Navy team tests laser system on UAV targets

The UAV targets were engaged and destroyed using the Navy’s Laser Weapon System (LaWS), guided by Raytheon’s Phalanx Close-In Weapon System sensor technologies.

The Phalanx Close-In Weapon System is a rapid-fire, computer-controlled, radar-guided gun system designed to defeat anti-ship missiles and other close-in air and surface threats. LaWS is made up of six industrial lasers that simultaneously focus on the target.

‘These engagements validate the operational viability of the Phalanx-LaWS combination at sea,’ said Dr Taylor W Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems. ‘The Raytheon-Navy team demonstrated the systems’ capability to detect, track, engage and defeat dynamic targets at tactically significant ranges in a maritime environment.’

For the test, the LaWS was mounted on a platform close to the Phalanx Block 1B mount.

Phalanx Block 1B is the latest upgrade with a surface-mode configuration that augments anti-air warfare capabilities by adding a forward-looking infrared sensor and optimised gun barrels to the Block 1A version.

The Phalanx operator used the Block 1B’s surface mode to perform electro-optical tracking and the system’s radio-frequency sensors to provide range data to the LaWS. When the Phalanx acquired the UAV, the LaWS destroyed the target.