Lockheed Martin delivers 300-kilowatt laser to Defense Department

BREAKING DEFENSE
By Andrew Eversden  

The new laser will take part in the Army's demonstration of its Indirect Fires Protection Capability-High Energy Laser later this year.

Oklahoma City, Okla. — Lockheed Martin announced today that it has delivered a 300-kilowatt laser to the Defense Department and will integrate it into an Army high-energy laser demonstration later this year.

The defense giant developed the laser under the Pentagon’s High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), an effort by the department to strengthen the directed energy industrial base and improve the quality of laser beams.

The Pentagon selected Lockheed in 2019 to “scale its spectral beam combined high energy laser architecture to the 300 kW-class level,” as part of the HELSI effort, according to the release. The release also notes that company completed the task ahead of schedule.

“Lockheed Martin increased the power and efficiency and reduced the weight and volume of continuous-wave high energy lasers which reduces risk for future fielding efforts of high power laser weapon systems,” said Rick Cordaro, vice president, Lockheed Martin Advanced Product Solutions.

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