UK and US militaries advance mobile directed energy weapon systems

Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) are becoming more portable and more compatible, as they are mounted onto a variety of vehicles used on land, in the air and at sea by Western militaries.

While lethal man-portable variants of DEWs such as laser small arms remain some time away from mass uptake, recent tests have seen both the UK and the US armed forces studying how to multiply their use of DEWs for mobile field-based operations.

DEWs are also used in static positions as defensive shields for positions units are operating at, as protection against missile, drone or bomb attacks. More mobile variants retain this role, but the latest mean militaries are increasingly able to take a more proactive approach to intercepting kinetic attacks, particularly when used DEWs are used in the air.

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“Directed energy is a highly versatile, cost-effective and sustainable solution for the modern battlefield,” explained Ron Dauk, director for Boeing Laser and Electro-Optical Systems (LEOS). “It seamlessly integrates into a layered defence strategy and can be deployed across multiple domains, whether in a fixed or mobile configuration.

“We are just beginning to explore the full range of applications for this technology, and its potential is vast across US Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force applications, as well as potential Homeland Security applications,” he noted. “We are also engaged with opportunities from the international community as well.”

Britain tests Raytheon vehicle-mounted DEW system

The growing availability of drones for reconnaissance and battlefield strikes has made traditional military structures, organisation and tactics vulnerable to disruption. This was demonstrated during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, when Azeri purchases of Turkish and Israeli drones helped turn the war in their favour.

In December 2024, the British Army tested a laser-type DEW (LDEW) mounted on a Wolfhound troop-carrying vehicle made by a Raytheon led-defence consortium.

The weapon was fired in field conditions and was able to successfully track and destroy flying drone targets. An LDEW does not require ammunition to keep firing, making it a cheaper alternative to traditional kinetic weaponry against threats like drone swarms or loitering munitions.

The Wolfhound was chosen by the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) as it was an in-service UK vehicle that met the requirements to mount and move the LDEW. The demonstration was also intended to help push forward the longer-term work of creating an LDEW manufacturing capability within the UK. Apart from Raytheon, other firms involved in the test included Fraser Nash, NP Aerospace, LumOptica, Blighter Surveillance Systems and Cambridge Pixel.

A Raytheon UK spokesperson said: “This is the first time the British Army has tested a laser weapon mounted on an armoured vehicle, while also having soldiers trained on the weapon’s targeting and tracking technologies.”

The spokesperson added that it was the first laser weapon “integrated and fired from a land vehicle in the UK, as part of a joint programme between Raytheon UK and Team Hersa”, with the latter organisations being a joint LDEW enterprise between the UK’s Defence and Science Laboratory and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).

Killing drones with radiowaves

Also in December, the UK successfully tested a Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon (RFDEW) system, a type of directed energy weapon that uses radio waves to take out drone swarms at a distance. The system is able to spot, follow and engage emerging enemy units on land, at sea and in the air, at a range of up to 1km according to the country’s MoD.

The UK army successfully held a demonstration during the same month using a system created by defence firm Thales and sub-contractors QinetiQ, Teledyne e2v and Horiba Mira. The ministry believes RFDEW is advanced enough to be used by one soldier and small enough to eventually be mounted onto service vehicle like a Wolfhound.

Cross-forces adaptability

In the US, Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS) has emerged as a more mature example of a DEW programme that the firm can adapt to different branches of the country’s armed forces, depending upon the entity’s equipment requirements.

The firm’s CLWS effector is designed for versatility and can be deployed in both mobile and fixed configurations, such as being mounted on a vehicle for mobility or housed at a static site for stationary defence. The system also has the capability to engage targets while on the move, providing units with more operational flexibility.

Boeing’s CLWS system has been successfully integrated on a Stryker combat vehicle, housed in a CONEX shipping unit configuration for base defence and a Polaris MRZR vehicle able to be air transported on a V-22 for roll-on/roll-off capability.

Boeing’s Ron Dauk explained: “CLWS can be configured for different power sources and can be powered by existing infrastructure, a stand-alone generator, vehicle power or a rechargeable battery system. With our modular configuration, we can work with customers to customise the power system needed based on their requirements.”

According to Dauk, one of the benefits of a laser weapon system is the “deep magazine”, which with the proper power source could offer what he called “unlimited engagements”, all without the need to “reload” when compared to a kinetic missile or gun system.

“Our CLWS is currently designed to be operated by personnel who determine when to engage a target,” Dauk continued. “We are developing the capability to allow CLWS to autonomously acquire, track and select the aimpoint to defeat the target as well.

We have previously incorporated the autonomous operational capability in other laser systems for applications such as counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) applications.”

Dauk concluded by noting that bringing autonomous operating capability to the counter-UAS mission would enable multiple CLWS units to be used to defend larger areas with limited personnel needs.