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Press Media Wire (Press Release) - Mar 24,2009 -
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 24, 2009
-- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has successfully demonstrated its Re-Deployable
High-Energy Laser System (RHELS) by quickly relocating the prototype
weapon system from its Albuquerque development site to a test range,
where it tracked ground and airborne targets and fired at a ground
target.
RHELS integrates a solid-state, thin-disk
laser; an acquisition, pointing and tracking capability; beam control,
fire control and thermal management systems; and a weapons operator
console into a modified 40-foot-long shipping container transportable
on a semitrailer.
Boeing began the two-week-long
test Feb. 23 by packing up RHELS at its Albuquerque facility, moving it
to a local government facility in Albuquerque and setting it up there,
all in only a few hours. With the system status re-established, RHELS
then tracked in-flight aircraft and moving and stationary ground
vehicles, and successfully fired its laser, hitting a remote target
board on the ground. Due to test-range restrictions, the system did not
fire at moving targets.
"RHELS demonstrates that a
solid-state, high-energy laser weapon system can be transportable,
rugged, supportable and affordable," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president
and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "RHELS drives
tactical directed-energy laser systems out of the laboratory and into
the hands of the warfighter. Its transportability also means developers
and warfighters have the opportunity to test this transformational,
ultra-precision directed-energy weapon system at a number of ranges
under varying conditions and against a diverse set of targets."
In
future tests, RHELS will fire its laser at in-flight targets and moving
ground vehicles. RHELS is designed to engage rocket, artillery and
mortar (RAM) projectiles, shoulder-fired missiles and unmanned
aircraft, as well as a variety of ground-mobile tactical targets.
RHELS
is a Boeing-funded initiative to show that directed energy weapons are
maturing and are relevant to today's battlefield. It also provides key
lessons for the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD), a
truck-mounted, high-energy laser, counter-RAM weapon system that Boeing
is developing for the U.S. Army.
"RHELS reduces
risk for HEL TD in a controlled but realistic setting," said Lee
Gutheinz, Boeing program director for High-Energy Laser/Electro-Optical
Systems. "It confirms the functionality of a compact, reliable and
highly efficient laser system while maintaining future scalability to
many tens of kilowatts of laser power."
Boeing
leads the way in developing high-energy laser systems for a variety of
warfighter applications. These systems include Airborne Laser, Advanced
Tactical Laser, HEL TD, Laser Avenger and the Tactical Relay Mirror
System. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses specializing
in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the
world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32
billion business with 70,000 employees worldwide. ### SOURCE: The Boeing Company |
