Laser

US Army could get laser for short-range air defense in under 5 years

The U.S. Army is going to assess the possibility of putting a 50-kilowatt laser onto its short-range air defense, or SHORAD, objective solution in less than five years, according to the service’s fiscal 2019 budget justification documents released Feb. 12.

“As part of the objective solution, the 50 kilowatt laser will be assessed for possible transition from Science and Technology to an objective M-SHORAD program in FY2022,” the document reads.

Fiscal 2019 dollars — a total of $118 million combining both base and overseas contingency operations accounts — would be used to develop an interim solution and an objective manuever SHORAD, or M-SHORAD, family of systems. The objective solution will be capable of defeating fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft systems from small all the way up to Shadow-sized UAS as well as indirect fires threats.

It’s been roughly two years since U.S. Army Europe identified the SHORAD capability gap, acknowledging both the growing threat of small drones observed on the Ukrainian border by the Russian military and the realization that a key assumption held by the U.S. military for years that it will have air dominance against adversaries will undeniably be challenged.