High Energy Laser weapon system in development with Boeing, General Atomics
NewsOctober 22, 2020
SAN DIEGO, Calif. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing announced they are partnering to jointly pursue opportunities for a 100 kW-class scalable to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to support a variety of air and missile defense applications.
The partnership intends to combine both companies’ directed energy portfolios to build a best-in-class HEL solution designed to be capable of delivering combat-ready protection for the warfighter.
The HEL weapon system design is planned to combine GA-EMS’ scalable distributed gain laser technology, HELLi-ion battery systems, and integrated thermal management with Boeing’s beam director and precision acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) software.
The HEL weapon system’s compact footprint will also aim to offer a reduced logistics footprint and greater configurability for both stand-alone use and integration with a variety of mobile ground, sea, and air-based platforms.
