{"id":2465,"date":"2015-05-22T22:16:30","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T22:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5917.temp.domains\/~iriacom\/\/news\/?p=2465"},"modified":"2020-06-02T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T19:20:09","slug":"darpa-to-begin-field-test-of-laser-weapon-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/darpa-to-begin-field-test-of-laser-weapon-system\/","title":{"rendered":"DARPA to begin field test of laser weapon system"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has received government permission to field test its HELLADS laser weapon system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cThe technical hurdles were daunting, but it is extremely gratifying to have produced a new type of solid-state laser with unprecedented power and beam quality for its size,\u201d<\/em> DARPA program manager Rich Bagnell said in a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/NewsEvents\/Releases\/2015\/05\/21a.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a><\/span> cited by the agency\u2019s website. The testing is set to start this summer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">High-Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS) has been in development since 2003. It is intended for use as a protection system for aircraft.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cEnemy surface-to-air threats to manned and unmanned aircraft have become increasingly sophisticated,\u201d<\/em> DARPA states on its website. <em>\u201cHigh power lasers can provide a solution to this challenge, as they harness the speed and power of light to counter multiple threats.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement adds however, that the laser could also be used for attack: <em>\u201cLaser weapon systems provide additional capability for offensive missions as well\u2014adding precise targeting with low probability of collateral damage.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To deploy that in practice, though, DARPA says the weapon must be made smaller and lighter than currently possible \u2013 and America\u2019s drones will have to stick with relatively imprecise missiles for the time being.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The goal of the HELLADS project is to build a laser with 150 kilowatts of power, weighing under 750 kilograms, and with a size less than 3 cubic meters.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In mid-April, DARPA\u2019s contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), unveiled the HEL Generation 3 laser. It meets these size specifications and is fitted with a module generator system, which enables it to produce 75 to 300-kilowatt beams.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Developers believe it can be mounted on GA-ASI\u2019s new Avenger drone. The drone\u2019s jet engine is capable of producing enough energy to recharge the laser\u2019s battery in flight, essentially giving the weapon infinite ammunition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has received government permission to field test its HELLADS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,125],"tags":[228,6,336,5,235,7,63],"class_list":["post-2465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-united-states","tag-darpa","tag-defense","tag-laser","tag-military","tag-technology","tag-u-s","tag-weapons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DARPA-HELLADS.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-DL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2470,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions\/2470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}