US Army to receive Stryker armored vehicles equipped with laser weapons

News, US January 18, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The first set of Stryker combat vehicles equipped with laser weapon system will be delivered to the U.S. Army unit at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in late September, the head of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office said.

The Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE-MSHORAD), also known as the “Guardian” weapon system is a U.S. Army initiative under the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser program to integrate a 50-kilowatt-class high-energy laser weapon system into the Stryker A1 8×8 armored vehicle.

According to deputy director of Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space, and Rapid Acquisition, Marcia Holmes, it is designed to protect army divisions and brigade combat teams from unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft, as well as rockets, artillery, and mortars threats.

The first prototype was tested last spring at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, targeting one-, two-, and three-class unmanned aircraft systems and rockets, artillery, and mortars.

Lieutenant General Neil Thurgood said that the service plans to conduct more tests this month and it will continue until early February.

In August 2021, the U.S. Army tested its first prototype of a high-energy laser weapon on a Stryker armored combat vehicle during a “combat shoot” at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

*^{The artist’s rendition of a Stryker vehicle with a mounted HEL system shoots down unmanned aircraft systems. (Image Credit: KBR)}*

Later in September 2021, the U.S. Army awarded Kord Technologies and Raytheon Technologies Missiles & Defense with a $123.9 million contract to supply three more 50-kW high-energy laser weapon systems for three Stryker A1 vehicles under the DE-MSHORAD project.

The Alabama-based defense firm, Kord is the contract’s primary supplier and integrator and provides power management and cooling systems. In addition to the DE-MSHORAD project, Kord is also working with the U.S. military on directed-energy experimentation for the counter-drone mission.

The Texas-based Raytheon provides the 50-kilowatt-class high-energy laser, a beam director, an electro-optical/infrared target acquisition and tracking system, as well as a Ku720 multi-mission radar. The Ku720 advanced electronically scanned array, persistent 360-degree radar, which is a smaller and highly-mobile version of the Ku-Band Radio Frequency System, would enhance the sensing capabilities and detect emerging threats at a greater distance than other battlefield sensors.

The U.S. Army will also receive as many as four DE-MSHORAD prototypes in 2023, four more system prototypes in the year 2024.