New LOCUST laser systems on armored vehicles will be able to shoot down UAVs while moving
The U.S. Army’s JLTV combat vehicle with lasers will shoot down UAVs on the move.
BlueHalo has been awarded a contract by the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Navy’s Surface Warfare Center to develop a prototype high-energy laser (HEL) integrated on board a light tactical vehicle (JLTV) for drone defense. This is reported on the company’s website.
The company is adapting its LOCUST laser weapon system (LWS) for integration into JLTVs, the combat jeeps that will replace the outdated Humvees. The developers claim that their laser system has excellent targeting, detection, tracking, and destruction capabilities, as well as wide adaptability to any vehicle.
BlueHalo’s LOCUST HEL system will ensure successful counteraction to enemy drones by adding laser capability to the existing kinetic and electronic warfare components. The LOCUST system combines precision optical and laser equipment with advanced software and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a directed energy “chain of destruction” that includes tracking, identifying and engaging a wide range of targets.
According to experts from the Warrior Maven military portal, the mention of AI is important here because new AI-enabled systems can collect threat data, perform advanced analysis, and select or recommend the best solution for an attack in milliseconds. As part of this, an AI-enabled system can receive sensor inputs related to potential threats, transfer them from a seemingly limitless database, and determine the brand, type, speed, and severity of a potential threat, performing near real-time analytics.
Once a threat has been identified by the AI system, after retrieving new information from a large data library to make an accurate determination, the AI-enabled fire control system can quickly “optimize” or “scale” the threat and the type of laser countermeasure to be used for that particular threat scenario.
