General Atomics and Boeing partner to develop HEL High Energy Laser weapon system.

According to information published by American Company General Atomics, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing have announced today they are partnering to jointly pursue opportunities for a 100 kW-class scalable to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to support a variety of air and missile defense applications. The partnership combines both companies’ expertise in directed energy to build a best-in-class HEL solution capable of delivering superior, combat-ready protection for the warfighter on an accelerated timeline.
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The HELTVD High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator will consist of a 100 kW-class laser weapon mounted on a tactical truck. (Picture source General Atomics)

The HEL weapon system will combine GA-EMS’ scalable distributed gain laser technology, HELLi-ion battery systems and integrated thermal management with Boeing’s beam director and precision acquisition, tracking and pointing (ATP) software. In addition to meeting the high-output power, range, adaptability and precision ATP requirements necessary to defeat an increasing array of emerging threats, the HEL weapon system’s compact footprint will offer a reduced logistics footprint and greater configurability for both stand-alone use and integration with a variety of mobile ground, sea and air-based platforms.

“GA-EMS has made significant advancements in developing and demonstrating highly scalable laser technologies to facilitate high output power in smaller, lighter weight packages,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “We look forward to working with Boeing to deliver a laser weapon system with capabilities designed to meet current operational requirements while providing the flexibility and adaptability to suit emerging platform requirements supporting missions across a multi-domain battlespace.”

“Our partnership with General Atomics will deliver an innovative HEL force protection capability to the warfighter that is capable of supporting future needs and modernization objectives,” said Norm Tew, Boeing Missile and Weapon Systems vice president and general manager, and Huntsville site senior executive. “Together, we’re leveraging six decades of directed energy experience and proven, deployed technologies to rapidly field a next-generation solution with unmatched precision, performance, safety and affordability.”

The HEL TVD (High Energy laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator) will be a rugged, mobile, pre-prototype solid-state laser system that meets the size, weight and performance needs of the Army. It will demonstrate target acquisition, tracking, aim-point selection/maintenance and defeat for selected threats. To obtain that capability, multiple subsystems are under development for integration into the pre-prototype weapon system.

The High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator will consist of a 100 kW-class laser projected through a precision pointing, high-velocity target tracking beam control system. The beam control system will have an aperture of at least 30 cm. To support the laser and beam control system, the HEL TVD will have power and thermal management systems that power and cool all the subsystems and provide sufficient magazine to defeat many targets. A Battle Management, Communications, Command and Control subsystem will receive target assignments with appropriate target cues from radars then point the laser beam to engage the targets.