Mobile and stationary Laser Weapon Demonstrators of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition

摘要

For some years Rheinmetall Waffe Munition has successfully developed, realised and tested a variety of versatile high energy laser (HEL) weapon systems for air- and ground-defence scenarios like C-RAM, UXO clearing. By employing beam superimposition technology and a modular laser weapon concept, the total optical power has been successively increased. Stationary weapon platforms and now military mobile vehicles were equipped with high energy laser effectors. Our contribution summarises the most recent development stages of Rheinmetalls high energy laser weapon program. We present three different vehicle based HEL demonstrators: the 5 kW class Mobile HEL Effector Track Ⅴ integrated in an M113 tank, the 20 kW class Mobile HEL Effector Wheel (ⅩⅩ) integrated in a multirole armoured vehicle GTK Boxer 8×8 and the 50 kW class Mobile HEL Effector Container L integrated in a reinforced container carried by an 8×8 truck. As a highlight, a stationary 30 kW Laser Weapon Demonstrator shows the capability to defeat saturated attacks of RAM targets and unmanned aerial vehicles. 2013 all HEL demonstrators were tested in a firing campaign at the Rheinmetall testing centre in Switzerland. Major results of these tests are presented.