Air protection laser destined for RAF defeats 100% of targets in live-fire trial
RAF aircrews are a step closer to being equipped with a laser self-protection system following live-fire trials which have been deemed 100% successful.
The laser is expected to be fitted to a range of RAF aircraft including the intelligence-gathering Shadow R2 and the A400M Atlas transporter.
Its role is to rapidly detect and defeat threats such as missiles.
During the trial at the Vidsel Test Range in Sweden, the operational system defeated a range of infrared heat-seeking missiles being fired simultaneously.
All threats were quickly defeated using a laser with pinpoint accuracy, the system being designed and developed by Team Pellonia.
This is a partnership between Leonardo UK, Thales UK and the MOD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
The system works by Thales' Elix-IR threat warning system quickly detecting and identifying the launch of missiles, using a series of algorithms to filter out background clutter so that only valid threats are tracked, classified and declared.
Once the threat or threats have been classified, an alert is sent to Leonardo's Miysis directed infrared countermeasure, which moves to track the incoming missile and directs a jamming laser onto the missile.
According to the MOD, threats are defeated faster than the time it takes to read this sentence.
Defence Secretary John Healey said: "Identifying, tracking and defeating threats from the air in seconds is crucial to having the edge over those who try to do us harm.
"We're equipping our Armed Forces with the very latest technology to keep them safe and give them the advantage on operations.
"This high-tech laser is another excellent example of joint working between our Dstl experts and the UK's defence industry."
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