The AN/SEQ-4 ODIN Shipboard Laser

Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday visited Sailors and civilians during a day-trip to Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, Virginia, Nov. 17.

WASHINGTON (NNS) - Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday visited Sailors and civilians during a day-trip to Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, Virginia, Nov. 17.

During the visit, CNO received briefs on a variety programs like High Energy Lasers, Solid Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) and Layered Laser Defense (LLD), and the Optical Dazzler Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren.

“As we develop the Fleet of the future, it’s important that we invest in weapons that are more precise, have longer range, and give us the ability to make our ships more survivable,” said Gilday.  “The development and fielding of new technology like directed energy and high-velocity projectiles are not science fiction – they’re happening today – and the workforce here in Dahlgren is making that happen.”

CNO also spoke with Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) leadership, met with AEGIS Training and Readiness Center (ATRC) students, toured the Reconfigurable Combat Information Center Trainer and observed the Virtual Maintenance Trainer demonstration at ATRC.

Earlier this year, the Navy installed the first Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) on the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey.

The system came out of Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division in Virginia as part of Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems, and it promises to radically change the way the Navy responds to a variety of threats at sea.

NSWC Dahlgren is the same group that worked on the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), which had a similar purpose: blasting unmanned aircraft out of the sky with a concentrated beam. Perhaps “dazzling” is a more accurate way to describe what LaWS does to airborne drones.

LaWS was a 30-kilowatt laser that was installed on the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce in 2014. It underwent a few years of testing and experiments but ultimately never was slated for operational use. LaWS did provide a lot of the lessons learned for the latest generation of ODIN.

ODIN took just two and a half years for the Navy to move the system from an approved idea through design, construction and testing to actual installation aboard the Dewey — a notable achievement in defense program development.

An Infant System More Advanced Than Its Predecessors

The ODIN program is still in its infancy, but the Navy hopes to roll it out with other ships in the fleet over the next couple of years. The sea service is concerned with the growing prevalence of enemy unmanned aircraft and seeks ways to counter this threat.

The Navy hopes to learn lessons from the installation of ODIN on the Dewey, which will inform commanders about how the system could be implemented on other ships in the future. ODIN, like LaWS, could lead to the development of other laser weapon systems.

The Navy requested $299 million for shipboard laser systems in its fiscal 2019 budget.

Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corp., said ODIN is not going to be used like laser weapons you would see in science fiction movies, but rather as something that would scramble a unmanned aerial vehicle’s optical sensor. UAVs right now aren’t a threat to attack a ship, so destroying them quickly isn’t necessary.

Army is one step closer to delivering laser DE-MSHORAD

The Army is one step closer to delivering laser weapons to Soldiers with the recent arrival of two Stryker vehicles in Huntsville, Ala. The government-industry team is integrating directed energy capabilities onto the platforms, in preparation for the RCCTO Directed Energy - Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (DE-MSHORAD) combat shoot-off next year. DE-MSHORAD will protect Divisions and Brigade Combat Teams from unmanned aerial systems, rotary-wing aircraft, and rocket, artillery and mortar threats.

Via Assistant Secretary of the Army - Acquisition, Logistics & Technology

This prototype will deliver 50 kilowatt (kW)-class lasers on a platoon of four Stryker vehicles in Fiscal Year 2022, supporting the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) mission. The directed energy M-SHORAD capability is intended to protect maneuvering Brigade Combat Teams from unmanned aerial systems (UAS), rotary-wing aircraft, and rockets, artillery and mortar (RAM).

High energy lasers engage at the speed of light and provide a solution to a constantly evolving threat space, while reducing the logistics trail associated with conventional kinetic weapon systems. In May 2019, the Army approved a new strategy for accelerating the rapid prototyping and fielding of a variety of directed energy weapons to enable Army modernization.

As the first step in delivering prototypes with residual combat capability, the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) has selected two vendors to build the directed energy M-SHORAD mission prototypes in order to foster competition and stimulate the industrial base for directed energy capabilities. Those vendors, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, are subcontractors in an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement between the Army and Kord Technologies.

Under the OTA award action, issued on July 26 in the amount of $203 million, Kord has teamed with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to develop the competing prototypes with support from General Dynamics Land Systems, which makes the Stryker, for integration work. Under the terms of the contract, the two laser vendors have approximately one year to produce the required laser subsystems, integrate them onto the Stryker platform, and complete a competitive performance checkout leading into a range demonstration against various threats.

After the Army evaluates the results, it plans to purchase three additional laser-equipped Strykers, for a total of four prototype vehicles that would be fielded to an operational M-SHORAD platoon in Fiscal Year 2022. The OTA award has the potential to increase to $490 million for the delivery of the four prototypes.

The directed energy M-SHORAD prototypes are part of the progression of an Army technology maturation initiative known as the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser (MMHEL).

"Both the Army and commercial industry have made substantial improvements in the efficiency of high energy lasers -- to the point where we can get militarily significant laser power onto a tactically relevant platform," said Dr. Craig Robin, RCCTO Senior Research Scientist for Directed Energy Applications. "Now, we are in position to quickly prototype, compete for the best solution, and deliver to a combat unit."

The Army is also welcoming participation from additional vendors who were not selected for the OTA awards, but desire to compete for the same M-SHORAD requirement and timeline using their own internal research and development funding.

In a related effort, the Army is also adapting its High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL-TVD) system into a prototype program order to increase its combat effectiveness and speed up its delivery to Soldiers.

The Army will adjust the current HEL-TVD, a 100 kW-class laser system integrated on a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles platform developed by Dynetics and subcontractor Lockheed Martin. Under the new directed energy strategy, the Army is leveraging progress made in that effort in order to merge the HEL-TVD with similar technologies in development by the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

This partnership will allow the services to achieve a higher power system, of approximately 250-300 kW-class, that can protect sites from RAM and UAS as well as more stressing threats -- significantly increasing the warfighting capability being transitioned on the original timeline. The Army's goal is to deliver four such prototype lasers integrated on tactical vehicles, for a capability known as High Energy Laser-Indirect Fire Protection Capability (HEL-IFPC), to a platoon by Fiscal Year 2024.

"By teaming with the other services and our industry partners, we will not only save resources, but exponentially increase the power level and get a better system to Soldiers faster," Thurgood said.

The Army RCCTO, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is chartered to develop rapid prototypes and field residual combat capabilities. Its current focus areas are hypersonics and directed energy.

Rheinmetall to supply laser duel simulators for Puma infantry fighting vehicles

Rheinmetall is to supply AGDUS laser duel simulators for the Puma IFV, contributing to the combat readiness of German mechanised infantry units.

Each AGDUS set consists of laser detectors arrayed around the vehicle as well as eye-safe lasers capable of simulating the effects of the Puma’s principal weapon systems, i.e. the automatic cannon, machinegun and MELLS antitank guided missile (Picture source: Rheinmetall)

Press Release, Düsseldorf, 03 February 2020: Rheinmetall will soon be supplying the German Bundeswehr with simulation technology that will enable highly realistic training of mechanised infantry units equipped with the Puma IFV. The total of the contract could be as high as €142 million, including value added tax.

At the end of 2019, Rheinmetall received order to this effect from the consortium responsible for the Puma for the AGDUS duel simulator, which had in turn been awarded the contract by the Bundeswehr on 20 December. To begin with, a pre-series of six systems will be developed and integrated. For Rheinmetall, the order value (booked in January 2020) comes to €54 million with VAT. Once the system is ready for full-scale serial production, an option exists for equipping 252 infantry fighting vehicles. This would result in an additional order for Rheinmetall worth around €88 million, including VAT, bringing the total value of the AGDUS contract to around €142 million, once again including VAT.

Each AGDUS set consists of laser detectors arrayed around the vehicle as well as eye-safe lasers capable of simulating the effects of the Puma’s principal weapon systems, i.e. the automatic cannon, machine gun and MELLS antitank guided missile. The laser algorithms are programmed to assure ballistically exact simulation of shots and hits. The AGDUS also enables simulation of the Puma IFV’s turret-independent secondary weapon system, or TSWA, as well as the vehicle’s self-defence systems. As a result, extremely realistic exercises can be conducted and evaluated at the German Army Combat Training Centre and other training facilities.

Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Systems and Electronics Solutions divisions will bring their respective expertise to bear in completing this order, with most of the work being performed at Group locations in Bremen and Unterlüß. True to the motto “Train as you fight!”, the AGDUS-equipped Puma IFV will significantly enhance the combat readiness of Germany’s mechanised infantry corps

ლაზერული Boxer-ი

სანამ სტატიას წაიკითხავთ, გთხოვთ გადახვიდეთ მითითებულ ბმულზე (ყავისფრად მონიშნული ტექსტი) და მოიწონოთ ჩვენი სამხედრო თემატიკის გევრდი - No Man's Land

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გერმანელების 5 კილოვატიანი ლაზერი ჯტრ Boxer-ის ბაზაზე

რუსული ლაზერული კომპლექსის, "Пересвет"-ის, საბრძოლო პოზიციები

ახალი რუსული სახმელეთო ლაზერული კომპლექსის, "Пересвет"-ის, საბრძოლო პოზიციები, აღმოაჩინა პირვონებამ, რომელიც ტვიტერში ნიკნეიმი rambo54 არის დარეგისტრირებული. აღნიშნული პირონება ფართოდაა ცნობილი სამხედრო თემით დაინტერესებულთა წრეში. პირველი საბრძოლო პოზიცია ტეიხოვოში, ივანოვსკაიას ოლქში, რუსეთის ფედერაციის სტრატეგიული დანიშნულების სარაკერტო ჯარების 54-ე სარაკეტო დივიზიის 2426-ე ტექნიკურ სარაკეტო ბაზაზეა განთავსებული (განედი 56.898855°, გრძედი 40.578283), მეორე პოზიცია იმავე სტრუქტურის 33-ე სარაკეტო არმიის 39-ე გვარდიულ სარაკეტო დივიზიის ბაზაზე, ნოვოსიბირსკის რაიონში მდებარეობს (ავტორის აზრით, ლაზერული კომპლექსის ინფრასტრუქტურა ჯერ მშენებლობის სტადიაშია) და ამგვარად მიანიშნებს თუ რა ამოცანებისთვის იქნება გამოყენებული უახლესი რუსული ლაზერული დანადგარი.

P.S. ლაზერულიკომპლექსების ბაზირების ადგილებიდან გამომდინარე შეგვიძლია მათი ფუნქციის შესახებ საკმაოდ საფუძვლიანი ვარაუდი გამოვთქვათ - "Пересвет"-ის ძირიდათ დანიშნულებას ამერიკელების დაბალ სიმაღლეზე მფრენი თანამგზავრების დაბრმავებაა - როგორც სადაზვერვო, ასევე პერსპექტიული სარაკეტო თავდასხმის გამაფრთხილებელი და რაკეტსაწინააღმდეგო თავდაცვის თანამგზავრების. ერთი სიტყვით კოსმოსური ოპტიკის საწინააღმდეგოდ მიმართული კონტრზომებია.

 პირველი პოზიცია, ივანოვსკაიას ოლქი

მეორე პოზიცია, ნოვოსიბირსკის რაიონი

წყარო - rambo54