Boeing announces beam control contract

Boeing has won a contract for developing a beam control system that could be used to provide accuracy for laser weapons on US Navy warships, the company announced on 17 February.

Under the contract, Boeing will design and develop a prototype High Power Beam Control Subsystem (HP BCSS) compatible with solid-state High Energy Lasers (HEL). The prototype will be compatible with systems that are being developed for the Office of Naval Research's (ONR's) solid state laser technology maturation programme.

The beam control system will focus and hold a laser on a moving aimpoint for long enough to disable the target - a challenge, given the constant motion of the maritime environment. 

The contract will capitalise on work performed by Boeing with the US Army's HEL Mobile Demonstrator (MD), which underwent successful demonstrations at Eglin air force base in Florida in 2014.

During these demonstrations, the HEL MD acquired, tracked and destroyed targets in foggy and windy conditions. ONR shared technical data on energy systems in maritime environments with Boeing and the army. In recent testing, the HEL MD also disabled unmanned aerial vehicles and mortars.