The U.S. Army now has firm plans to put laser weaponry on its armored vehicles. The Army and defense contractor General Dynamics are mounting lasers on Stryker interim armored vehicles to shoot down incoming missiles, mortars, drones, and artillery.

During the Iraq War, the United States developed the C-RAM system to protect bases from rocket and mortar fire. C-RAM is basically a land-based version of the Phalanx system that defends U.S. Navy ships. This was a much bigger deal than it was made out to be; the ability to shoot down enemy artillery has been on every army's wish list for the last five hundred years.

At the same time, the advent of solid state and liquid lasers have made them much smaller and thus more viable on the battlefield. The U.S. Navy already has a laser weapon system operational on the USS Ponce , and the U.S. Air Force plans to put them on AC-130 gunships .

The other factor pushing laser defenses into reality is that drones have emerged as a major new threat to U.S. and allied forces. Earlier this month, two Kurdish fighters were killed in an incident involving an Islamic State drone rigged with explosives . Anti-drone weapons have also been spotted at U.S. military bases on the front lines against the Islamic State, and the Air Force has disclosed it downed a IS drone through "electronic measures".

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The convergence of these new capabilities—and new and old threats—has made now the right time for the Army to jump into the laser game. According to Scout Warrior , the U.S. Army is testing concept vehicles at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the home of the U.S. Army's Artillery and Air Defense branches.

Lasers are an ideal choice to shoot down enemy artillery. Artillery rockets, shells, and bombs travel at high speeds, and defensive weapons must lead the target, spraying a cloud of shells where it anticipates the enemy weapon will be. Lasers move at the speed of light, eliminating the need to lead the target, and modern fire control systems can keep the laser focused on an object until it melts and crashes—or explodes in flight.

The Army's aim is to develop an 18-kilowatt laser for the M1131 Stryker Fire Support Vehicle (FSV) by 2018. The FSV is the vehicle that calls for friendly artillery, so it sort of makes sense that it would be responsible for shooting down enemy artillery. It has a thermal imager/day camera that could help it spot drones, and four radios to monitor communications traffic for drone reports. In addition to the laser weapon the FSV will have a electronic jammer to jam drone control signals. The Stryker laser weapon could be operational in as little as 11 months.

Source: Scout Warrior.

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