\u201cAs part of the objective solution, the 50 kilowatt laser will be assessed for possible transition from Science and Technology to an objective M-SHORAD program in FY2022,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Fiscal 2019 dollars \u2014 a total of $118 million combining both base and overseas contingency operations accounts \u2014 would be used to develop an interim solution and an objective manuever SHORAD, or M-SHORAD, family of systems. The objective solution will be capable of defeating fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft systems from small all the way up to Shadow-sized UAS as well as indirect fires threats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s been roughly two years since\u00a0U.S. Army Europe identified the SHORAD capability gap<\/a>, acknowledging both the growing threat of small drones observed on the Ukrainian border by the Russian military and the realization that a key assumption held by the U.S. military for years that it will have air dominance against adversaries will undeniably be challenged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That reality has even led the Army to identify air defense as one of its\u00a0top six modernization priorities<\/a>, with SHORAD being the top priority within that category.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Army has taken critical steps to rapidly fill the capability gap in Europe with Avenger SHORAD units resident only in the National Guard, rapidly deploying them to the region attached to a rotational armored brigade combat team. The Avenger unit \u2014 one of the battalions out of the South Carolina National Guard\u2019s 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command \u2014 is set to deploy this month.<\/p>\n At the same time, the service began to look at interim solutions to fill the gap with a plan to ultimately develop a new SHORAD system down the road.<\/p>\n And companies with possible solutions have come out of the woodwork even from\u00a0Israel<\/a>\u00a0and South Korea. Several contractors participated in a demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in September 2017 to inform the Army of existing capabilities that could work for SHORAD.<\/p>\n Boeing and General Dynamics Land Systems<\/a>, which built a Stryker combat vehicle with an Avenger air defense system on its back for its SHORAD solution, said specifically it could integrate a laser.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The integration of a laser onto a SHORAD system in the time frame the Army lays out seems doable.<\/p>\n The Army has already successfully demonstrated\u00a0a 5-kilowatt laser on a Stryker combat vehicle<\/a>\u2014 the Mobile Expeditionary High-Energy Laser (MEHEL) \u2014 at the Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment (MFIX) 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/resizer\/Aql_0jengZB9qiS5anvms1AI7Zk=\/1200x0\/filters:quality(100)\/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/KBO273GSFFDIPNR7Z6GT4KXVEQ.jpg\")
WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Army is going to assess the possibility of putting a 50-kilowatt laser onto its\u00a0short-range air defense, or SHORAD,<\/a>\u00a0objective solution in less than five years, according to the service\u2019s fiscal 2019 budget justification documents released Feb. 12.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n