Wednesday, March 29, 2023
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result

Navy, Northrop Accomplish Goals For At-Sea Demonstration Of Maritime Laser

by Northrop Grumman
April 11, 2011
in Navy News
3 min read
0
Navy, Northrop Accomplish Goals For At-Sea Demonstration Of Maritime Laser
14
VIEWS

The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman have successfully demonstrated high-energy, solid-state laser defenses at sea by completing a “counter-material” test of the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) against small boats.

Northrop Grumman designed and built the MLD for the Office of Naval Research, leveraging a laser built by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command /Army Forces Strategic Command and the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office.

Open ocean tests were conducted between October 2010 and April 2011 at the Pacific Ocean Test Range near San Nicolas Island off the Central California coast. For these tests, the laser system was installed on the Navy’s Self Defense Test Ship, the USS Paul Foster.

While underway, the MLD system initially tracked and lased land targets. The solid-state, directed energy system then tracked and damaged moving, remotely piloted, unmanned small boats traveling at representative speeds and ranges, company executives said.

“The results show that all critical technologies for an operational laser weapon system are mature enough to begin a formal weapon system development program,” said Steve Hixson, vice president, space and directed energy systems at Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector. “Solid-state laser weapons are ready to transition to the fleet.”

Hixson said the MLD team accomplished several notable firsts, including:

  • First Navy laser system to go to sea, installed on a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer, for the program’s culminating demonstration;
  • First Navy laser system to be integrated with a ship’s radar and navigation system; and
  • First electric laser weapon to be fired at sea from a moving platform. Other tests of solid-state lasers for the Navy have been conducted from land-based positions.

“During the latest demonstrations, MLD spent a total of three days at sea, during which we operated the laser at high power more than 35 times,” according to Dan Wildt, vice president, directed energy systems. “The laser withstood the stresses of wave heights up to seven-and-a-half feet.”

Laser Maturity
“Based on Northrop Grumman’s proven laser technology developed for the Defense Department’s Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program, the MLD system is proving the readiness of laser systems for shipboard use,” Wildt said.

“This is phenomenal for a first-generation demonstrator, and proves we know how to fully ruggedize operational systems to follow. We have demonstrated the ability of lasers to address one of several threats of interest to Navy,” he continued.

Results of the at-sea tests will be used by the Navy to help guide engineering manufacturing development phase of a Navy laser weapon system and transition it to a program of record for up to eight classes of ships the Navy has identified as likely platforms.

Capability and Affordability
According to Jay Marmo, the company’s MLD program manager, the open ocean tests collectively showed that a laser weapon system can effectively operate in a challenging maritime environment and overcome such obstacles as atmospheric conditions, waves and the motions of both the host and target vessels, while also meeting capability requirements for self-defense.

“In the future, lasers will operate synergistically with kinetic energy weapons to optimize ship defenses,” Marmo said. “Lasers can address a number of emerging threats, enabling the fleet to maintain freedom of operation, yet with a very low cost of operation. Lasers will offset the use of higher cost kinetic defenses for a number of these threats, substantially reducing the total cost of ship defense.”

As a primary provider of high-power laser defense systems for the U.S. military, Northrop Grumman has built a number of high-energy lasers that have shot down airborne threats in flight. Major laser systems the company has developed include Mid Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, Alpha, Tactical High Energy Laser and the megawatt-class laser aboard the Airborne Laser Test Bed, along with the JHPSSL system.

Tags: laserMaritime LaserNavy & Maritime Security NewsNortrop Grumman
Previous Post

Acecombat6 su-33

Next Post

Deal Averts Shutdown, Normal Government Operations to Continue

Related Posts

Russia says fired anti-ship missiles at mock target in Sea of Japan

Russia says fired anti-ship missiles at mock target in Sea of Japan

March 28, 2023

Russia's defence ministry said Tuesday that its navy had fired test anti-ship missiles at mock targets in the Sea of...

China Naval Modernization: Implications for US Navy

Chinese military says ‘warned’ US warship to leave S. China Sea

March 24, 2023

The Chinese military said it warned a US warship to "leave" waters in the disputed South China Sea on Thursday,...

Next Post
Message to DoD workforce on potential government shutdown

Deal Averts Shutdown, Normal Government Operations to Continue

Latest Defense News

Russia says fired anti-ship missiles at mock target in Sea of Japan

Russia says fired anti-ship missiles at mock target in Sea of Japan

March 28, 2023
Lockheed Developing Long Range Maneuverable Fires Missile For US Army

Lockheed Developing Long Range Maneuverable Fires Missile For US Army

March 28, 2023
Leopard tanks to arrive in Ukraine around late March: Germany

Germany delivers Leopard tanks to Ukraine

March 28, 2023
EU warns Belarus opening door to Russian nukes after vote

Kremlin says won’t change plans on Belarus nuclear weapons

March 28, 2023
Ahead of talks, North Korea says fired ‘new’ sub-launched missile

North Korea says it tested new underwater nuclear attack ‘drone’

March 24, 2023
China Naval Modernization: Implications for US Navy

Chinese military says ‘warned’ US warship to leave S. China Sea

March 24, 2023

Defense Forum Discussions

  • NZDF General discussion thread
  • Foreign Interference in Canada
  • German Navy
  • Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0
  • Unarmed combat versus running away
  • US Navy News and updates
  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
  • RSN capabilities
  • F-35 Program - General Discussion
  • Indian Air Force Mirage 2000H at RAF Waddington - @ the Far end of the Runway
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com