July 2, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By PAUL MCLEARY
WASHINGTON: As the Marine Corps prepares to wrap up the first deployment of its innovative mobile counter-drone system to the Middle East, the service is rushing ahead to put lasers on a ground vehicle, with an eye to shooting down drones.
While the deployed Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System — mounted on two Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicles — can move quickly and electronically jam drones, the Marines are looking for something a little more...well, kinetic.
They hope they've found it in the Compact Laser Weapons System (CLaWS) program. It is the first ground-based laser approved by the Pentagon for use by ground troops.
Marine Lt. Col. Ho Lee, product manager for Ground Based Air Defense Weapons Systems, said in a statement that the CLaWS program has been developed, troops trained on it, and its been fielded for testing all in about a year's time, a timeline the Corps is hoping will get the system fielded in a relatively short time period.
“We've been doing rapid prototyping, rapid delivery,” Lee said. “With this and a lot of the other efforts we are doing, we are using items currently available and integrating them to meet a capability. Little development, if any, went into this.”
Back in 2017, Boeing began developing the system in 2-kW, 5-kW and 10-kW configurations. But it's unclear which version the Marines are testing. The Army has already placed a version of the weapon on a Stryker for testing in Europe, while the Marines last year showed it off on top of a JLTV.
The idea is to get the system in the field as part of a larger, integrated air defense system that can protect deployed troops from DIY drones to more sophisticated models built by nation states.
Despite the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy which prioritize equipping the force for competition with China and Russia, out in the world, there are still 15,000 US troops in Afghanistan, 5,000 in Iraq and somewhere around 2,000 in Syria, all of whom are in range of small, DIY drones made by insurgent groups or second-tier states.
In Syria, Iranian-made drones operated by the Asad regime have dropped small bombs near US troops, and US aircraft have been forced to shoot them down using aircraft that launch expensive missiles, creating a cost imbalance that favors the other side. Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq have also long weaponized small commercial quadcopter drones to drop small munitions on Iraqi troops and US-backed fighters, who have little to no protection against them. The Taliban has filmed attacks on Afghan outposts from a collection of drones, as well.
“We will never deploy again to a theater of operations where we are not under threat from unmanned aerial systems,” UK's Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney, former deputy commander of US and coalition troops in Iraq and Syria in 2017-2018 said recently. “Both those high-end systems of our near-peer competitors, and lower, off-the-shelf, botched-together systems that are developed by asymmetric enemies. And we need to get used to that.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2019/06/marines-develop-laser-to-fry-drones-from-jltvs/
March 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Israel and South Korea are to co-operate in the field of unmanned airborne intelligence, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance (ISTAR), with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on 15 March. Showcased at ADEX 2017, KAI's stealth U...
June 5, 2023 | International, Aerospace
The Marines want long-range loitering munitions to launch from their helicopters and from the ground, as part of their Force Design 2030 modernization.
July 15, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By Allen Cone July 11 (UPI) -- Raytheon was awarded a $17.8 million contract to deliver 114 computers to launch the U.S. Navy's high-speed anti-radiation missiles. The contract for the system, known as HARM, will include two pre-production units, one first article test unit and 111 production units in support of the Navy, the Defense Department announced Wednesday. Work will be performed at Raytheon's plant in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed in October 2021. Naval working capital, and fiscal 2017, 2018 and 2019 aircraft procurement funds in the full amount will be obligated at time of award, $6.2 million of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The CP-1001B/C HARM Command Launch Computer is an electronics subsystem installed on the airframe to interface with the AGM-88 A/B/C HARM Missile. "Continued hardware and software upgrades have allowed HARM to counter advanced radar threats. HARM has proven itself in both reliability and combat performance," Raytheon said on its website. HARM's primary mission is designed to suppress or destroy an enemy's surface-to-air missile radar and radar-directed air defense artillery systems. When it is airborne, the 800-pound missile can operate in preemptive, missile-as-sensor and self-protect modes. The AGM-88 HARM is a joint U.S. Navy and Air Force program developed by the Navy and Raytheon. The system is employed on a variety of Navy, Air Force and Marine Corpsaircraft, including the EA-6B, F-16 and F/A-18. In addition, the HARM is available to nations through foreign military sales. The AGM-88 HARM was first involved in combat against Libyan targets in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986. During Operation Desert Storm, U.S. aircraft fired 1,961 missiles against Iraqi targets. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/07/11/Raytheon-awarded-178M-for-computers-to-launch-Navys-anti-radiation-missiles/9561562846921/