For first time MBDA successfully tests DragonFire laser in UK.

According to a PR published by MBDA on November 8, 2022, the firm and its partners in the DragonFire consortium have successfully carried out the first static high power laser firing of a sovereign UK capability at the Dstl’s range in Porton Down.
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DragonFire laser at Porton Down trials, United Kingdom. (Picture source: Dstl)

Using QinetiQ’s phase-combined laser demonstrator, generating in the order of 50kW of power, focused by Leonardo’s Beam Director and delivered using MBDA’s advanced image processing and command and control (C2) system, the trials showed that DragonFire could safely control and focus a high power laser onto an extremely precise point at long range.

The firing was part of a second set of tests in a series of trials to prove the accuracy and power of the novel DragonFire laser weapon. The first trials, announced in July 2022, proved DragonFire can successfully track, and hit, air and sea targets with exceptionally high accuracy.

The next step will be to combine the outcomes of these first two trials, pairing the proven tracking accuracy and the high-power laser, by engaging targets in operationally representative scenarios.

Testing of the DragonFire system took place on Dstl’s Porton Down Range, which for decades has undertaken novel and challenging trials. In this instance and to ensure absolute safety, it was necessary that the effects were contained within the Range area.

The Range has defined distances over which the trial serials were conducted to a maximum distance of 3.4km from DragonFire. The capability of DragonFire is classified.

Dstl is one of the principal government organisations dedicated to science and technology in the defence and security field. It supplies specialist services to MOD and wider government, working collaboratively with external partners in industry and academia worldwide, providing expert research, specialist advice and operational support.