El Reino Unido desarrolla armas laser de 50 kw, el proyecto liderado por MBDA espera que inicie las pruebas operacionales en 2019. Las armas láser tienen ventajas clave sobre los sistemas tradicionales: la munición es potencialmente ilimitada, y funciona a la velocidad de la luz, de modo que el tiempo desde que se dice “fuego” hasta que el arma golpea su objetivo es más o menos instantáneo. El sistema está siendo optimizado para su uso en tierra y en el mar, el objetivo del SA, es emplearlo para la defensa aérea de corto alcance, protección cercana para buques de guerra, vehículos aéreos (UAV) y ataques de mortero y artillería.
Led by MBDA, under contract to Dstl, UK Dragonfire is a grouping key players in the defence industry brought together to develop this new system for the UK Armed Forces.
For the first time, the consortium has revealed the design of the turret – known as a beam director – that will be used to trial this new technology. The beam director, which will be provided by Leonardo, brings together QinetiQ’s powerful laser emitter, as well as electro-optics for target identification and tracking. MBDA say it is bringing weapon system delivery experience and advanced weapon system command and control (C2) and image processing capability to UK Dragonfire, in addition to coordinating the overall effort.
The full-scale beam director is present at UK Dragonfire’s stand, at ND4 in the Naval Static Display Area. Half-scale models are also present on the stands of Leonardo, MBDA and QinetiQ.
Known as the Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) Capability Demonstrator Programme (CDP), the effort will see UK Dragonfire trial this new system in the maritime and land domains in 2019.
Among the uses of LDEW systems are providing very short-range air defence capability, close-in protection for naval vessels, counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and protecting friendly forces from mortar and artillery attack.
A key benefit of the Dragonfire LDEW technology according to MBDA is that the base system is highly adaptable and its effects are highly scaleable. As such it offers a range of different engagement solutions depending on the tactical scenario, these include tracking, deterring, dazzling the sensors of a potential threat, up to damaging or destroying it.
UK Dragonfire was awarded a £30 million contract for the LDW CDP in early 2017 after a rigorous competitive evaluation. The team capitalises on the strengths of all the companies involved, including Leonardo, QinetiQ, MBDA, Arke, BAE Systems, Marshall and GKN.
Fuente: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk
