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The trials, which involved firing the UK DragonFire demonstrator at different targets and different ranges, were designed to improve the UK’s understanding of how high-energy lasers and their associated technologies can operate over militarily significant ranges and defeat representative targets. The ability to deliver high levels of laser power with sufficient accuracy are two of the key capabilities that needed to be demonstrated  in order to provide confidence in the performance and viability of LDEW systems.

DragonFire is a consortium working to provide technology-driven operational advantage for UK MOD led by MBDA with QinetiQ and Leonardo, and has brought together the best of UK industry expertise to deliver the highly challenging and complex Laser CDP.

 

The aim is to enable transformation of future weapons technology and help develop the UK’s first laser weapon. Dstl vision is for a new laser capability, providing an end-to-end system demonstration – from target acquisition to destruction.

 

MBDA are the prime, with overall responsibility for the system. They have developed the advanced command and control (C2) and image processing capabilities. QinetiQ’s laser experts have built a coherently-combined laser capable of generating in the order of 50kW of power, with the ability in the future to scale to higher fire-power levels; and Leonardo have developed the Beam Director, which can track and point at targets with pin-point accuracy.

Dstl’s Technical Partner, Ben Maddison said: “This trial is the culmination of design, development and demonstration activity over a number of years. DragonFire has already successfully demonstrated an ability to track targets with very high levels of precision and to maintain a laser beam on the selected aim-point. This trial has assessed the performance of the laser itself – the outcome shows that the UK has world-leading capability in the technologies associated with Laser Directed Energy Weapons (LDEW) systems.”

Chris Allam, UK Managing Director and Executive Group Director of Engineering at MBDA said: “These successful trials are the latest step in accelerating delivery of a UK sovereign laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) capability. MBDA, Leonardo, Qinetiq and Dstl all working together are putting the UK at the forefront of research & technology in laser domain. The results from these trials have verified analysis and given the team confidence that DragonFire will offer a near term and unique capability.”

QinetiQ Chief Executive, Steve Wadey, added: “We are delighted to have been involved in the trial, which has brought together the best of UK industry expertise in the complex weapons environment to work in close collaboration with Dstl.  QinetiQ’s coherent beam-combining technology offers a laser system that can achieve an enhanced power density and increased engagement range, that is scalable for future uses. The trial has proven the performance of these laser technologies and their potential for adoption in Sovereign Defence Capabilities.”

Mark Hamilton, Managing Director Electronics UK, Leonardo said: “The DragonFire project draws on our decades of high energy laser and beam director heritage to put the UK at the very forward edge of what is possible in laser technology. The results of this live trial, which saw our beam director integrated into the DragonFire system, were impressive. We are looking forward to the next stages of the programme.”

The trial is the culmination of significant joint investment by the UK MOD and industry over a number of years totalling in the order of £100 million. This technology could provide the basis for a number of future weapon systems. The DragonFire project is running in parallel and closely connected to other Defence Programmes including https://www.gov.uk/government/news/725m-investment-for-laser-and-radio-frequency-weapons