US army to take delivery of “world record” laser weapon

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Lockheed Martin has revealed that it has successfully demonstrated a 60kW laser weapon, the most powerful system of its kind yet to be developed.

In testing earlier this month, the laser - which has been developed for the US Army - produced a single beam of 58kW, representing a world record for a laser of this type. Lockheed is now is preparing to ship the system the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Alabama,

The system is based on combined fibre laser technology, meaning that it brings together individual lasers, generated through fibre optics, to generate a single, intense laser beam. This allows for a scalable system that can be made more powerful by adding more fiber laser subunits.

"The inherent scalability of this beam combined laser system has allowed us to build the first 60kW-class fiber laser for the US Army," said Robert Afzal, Ph.D., senior fellow for Laser and Sensor Systems. "We have shown that a powerful directed energy laser is now sufficiently light-weight, low volume and reliable enough to be deployed on tactical vehicles for defensive applications on land, at sea and in the air."

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