Lockheed Martin is developing laser weapon systems to protect soldiers at sea, in the air, and on the ground, according to the firm’s website. Called the layered laser defense system, this innovation is combined with expert platform integration to defeat a growing range of threats to military forces and infrastructure.

“Our technology today is ready to defend against small rockets, artillery shells and mortars, small unmanned aerial vehicles, small attack boats, and lightweight ground vehicles that are approximately a mile way,” says the firm on its website. “As fiber laser power levels increase, our systems will be able to disable larger threats and do so across greater distances. When operated in conjunction with kinetic energy systems, these systems can serve as a force multiplier.”

Lockheed Martin boasts expertise in the auxiliary technologies needed to field laser weapons systems on military aircraft, ground vehicles, and ships.

“Our fiber lasers operate with an efficiency that generates less heat and exists in a smaller package allowing easier incorporation into various defense platforms. Our ALADIN laser has operated in the field for two years with no need for realignment, proving both the lethality and the reliability of our solutions,” said Dr. Rob Afzal, Senior Fellow, Laser Sensors and Systems.

The firm achieves this level of success through two key approaches:

“Our beam control technology enables precision equivalent to shooting a beach ball off the top of the Empire State Building from the San Francisco Bay Bridge,” said Paul Shattuck, Director of Directed Energy systems.

All this indicates that Lockheed Martin’s research and developments are increasing the performance of laser weapon systems while shrinking their size, weight, and power consumption. This includes spectral beam combining, adaptive optics, precision pointing, line-of-sight stabilization, and air-flow control.

As an example of this incredible engineering, watch the video of the firm testing its layered laser defense system.

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