Military seeks to use lasers to counter drones - AirForceTimes.com
“There aren’t a lot of ways to deal with UAVs right now,” said David DeYoung, director of Boeing’s Laser and Electro-Optical Systems. Boeing on Wednesday demonstrated a two-kilowatt laser shooting at stationary targets and successfully igniting them. Boeing said the military has access to lasers with 10 kilowatts of power. Laser systems could easily be used to destroy any UAV threats, and could be mounted at the edges of airports or forward operating bases, DeYoung said. What’s more, the systems are becoming compact enough to be mounted onto a Jeep or truck for deployment down range. Boeing has successfully installed a laser system onto a helicopter, and is looking at other aircraft. DeYoung said the restrictions on mounting lasers onto vehicles come down to three things: size, weight and power. They also have variable power settings, and could be used to knock off a specific piece of a UAV or to set it on fire. Plus, DeYoung said the laser systems are cheap to operate,. Source: www.airforcetimes.com
