Directed energy

Raytheon Demonstrates Directed Energy Weapons at Army Exercise

Raytheon recently took down 45 drones during an exercise using a high energy laser and a high-power microwave, company executives said March 20.

The company showed off its technology in early December at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence’s Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment, or MFIX, in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

“Already our adversaries, including our low-tech adversaries, have found ways to take advantage of these drone systems and modify them to be a significant threat to the warfighter and our coalition forces abroad,” said Evan Hunt, high-energy laser business development lead at Raytheon’s space and airborne systems division.

So far, the U.S. military has struggled to find a cost-effective way to neutralize these threats, he said during a briefing with reporters in Arlington, Virginia. However, directed energy platforms may be the key to solving that challenge.

During the demonstration, Raytheon displayed two separate technologies — a high energy laser atop a dune buggy and a high-power microwave — that when used in tandem could provide the military with an affordable and effective counter-drone capability, he said.