Laser

Dstl to make Laser Weapon System Demonstrator announcement 'imminently'

The UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is expected to select a consortium to take forward its solid-state high-power Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) programme in the coming days, an industry official told reporters on 25 May.

Speaking at Raytheon UK's Integrated Power Solutions (IPS) business site in Glenrothes, Scotland, Andy Rhodes, Business Development Missile Systems, said the meeting to select the winning bid in the competition to build a prototype will be held in the next week or so, with a public announcement set to follow shortly after.

"The decision of the winning proposal is imminent - the meeting is on 3 June, though can't say when it will be announced. It needs to be soon after that, though, as the demonstration dates are already challenging - in February the then First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sir George Zambellas publicly stated that the RN [Royal Navy] will put a laser to sea by the end of 2018 [for demonstrations]," Rhodes said.