Army asks industry for quick-turnaround counter-UAV laser weapons for fixed sites or armored combat vehicles
FORT BELVOIR, Va. – U.S. Army air-defense experts are reaching out to industry for quick-turnaround mobile- and fixed-site laser weapons that can defend soldiers and equipment from relatively small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that weigh as much as 1,320 pounds.
Officials of the Army The Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office at Fort Belvoir, Va., issued a request for white papers on Tuesday for the Enduring Directed Energy project, which seeks to develop quick-manufacture high-energy laser weapons for integration into common Army air- and missile-defense networks to defeat Groups 1-3 UAVs.
Army officials want industry to build and test a producible and sustainable laser weapon to counter unmanned aircraft that provide the enemy with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and attack with submunitions or one-way Kamikaze attacks.
Group 1-3 UAVs are difficult to detect because they are small and fly at low altitudes, Army officials say. Group 1 UAVs like the RQ-11 weigh zero to 20 pounds and fly lower than 1,200 feet. Group 2 UAVs like the ScanEagle weigh 100 to 21 to 55 pounds and fly lower than 3,500 feet. Group 3 UAVs like the RQ-21 Blackjack weigh less than 1,320 pounds and fly lower than 18,000 feet.
Army experts plan to integrate these counter-UAV laser weapons into common Army air- and missile-defense networks. Suggested laser weapons should follow the Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA) design guidelines.
These laser weapons will be for fixed sites, or for existing Army combat vehicles like the JLTV. Weapons should be ready for testing by this fall, and for field testing this spring. A production contract is expected in fall 2025.
The Army will provide the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) interface-control documents, Army-owned platform interface specifications like JLTV.
Companies interested should email 15-page unclassified white papers no later than next Thursday, 14 Aug. 2024 to Hillary Roy at [email protected] and Sydney Horn, Agreements Specialist at [email protected] and Sydney Horn at [email protected].
More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/368be0f48bad4fa2a0f7896b9619da92/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
