Tests of a combat laser demonstrator installed on board the Sachsen-Anhalt frigate type F125 have been completed in Germany.

MBDA Deutschland GmbH and Rheinmetall announced the completion of testing of a combat laser demonstrator installed on board the Sachsen-Anhalt type F125 frigate of the German Navy. This was reported by the press service of Rheinmetall.

Laser demonstrator testing weapons successfully completed, while on board a German frigate, he conducted more than a hundred different tests, during which he hit various air targets. In the future, it will be dismantled from the ship and a full study of the results will be carried out for further development on its basis of an operational laser weapon system for ships.

The combat effectiveness of the Laser Weapon Demonstrator (LWD) has been proven in challenging scenarios under realistic operating conditions against a variety of target types.

- said in a statement.

The decision to begin testing a laser weapon demonstrator was made in 2021, and the Bundeswehr procurement office issued permission for its installation on board a warship. It was assumed that the product with a power of about 20 kW would be installed on a frigate of the F124 type, but later the Sachsen-Anhalt frigate of the F125 type was chosen as the platform.

Plans to equip surface ships of the German Navy with laser weapons were announced back in 2019. In the same year, the German companies Rheinmetall and MBDA Deutschland entered into an agreement, under which they announced the development and creation of laser combat systems.

The laser demonstrator uses spectral communication technology, which German defense company Rheinmetall has been researching for many years. Output scalable power up to 20 kW with high beam focusing allows you to hit a wide range of air targets.

Comments

[bone1]

What is a “demonstrator” layout?

[Aviator_]

What is a “demonstrator” layout?

This means that it is assembled on the knee and wires stick out from it in all directions. Demonstrates the principle, and the creators ask for money to continue.

[Shurik70]

Once a working prototype has been assembled, then for large-scale use only production capacity is needed.
And 20 kW is powerful. Any plastic (and modern drones are mainly made of it) cuts instantly.
It looks like drones will soon have to switch to metal. With reflective coating. And they will be visible even on weak radars. But they will overcome laser air defense.

[Aviator_]

The laser demonstrator works on the basis of spectral coupling technology

And what kind of technology is this? Using optical chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) in DKDP or LBO nonlinear optical crystals?

[point]

Wow, he bent it powerfully! but it’s not clear who to ask. It seems that the event was not sudden and not a secret, but the source of the stuffing was not specified. Because what matters? It is important not to shine a light on Ryabov or others when you once again make a riposte with foreign media or some other aggregator.

[Aviator_]

Wow, he bent it powerfully!

It’s not me, it’s the World Wide Web that answered my question about powerful lasers. Naturally, without clear explanations. I myself don’t know what kind of nonsense this is. I remember that gas-dynamic lasers began producing the first kilowatts 40 years ago.

[Dekabrist]

And what kind of technology is this?

Here the traditional problem of the site is complex technical issues.
Spectral multiplexing (WDM) is not used in combat lasers, but is used in communications systems to transmit multiple channels with different carrier frequencies over a single optical fiber. This system is not suitable for combat lasers at all.
Optical parametric amplification of chirped pulses (OPCPA) is also not used in combat lasers - only for scientific purposes due to the large dimensions and parameters tailored specifically for scientific purposes.
Combat lasers use laser power scaling through coherent beam combining.
Only recently we discussed an American laser on the same principle here on the website. This design makes it possible to seriously reduce the size and power consumption, which is very important for combat lasers.

[KCA]

What is the source of energy? How to ensure radiation lasts not milliseconds, but seconds? Nuclear reactor per megawatt of electrical power? Or an impulse due to tens of tons of ionistors, but one, and I’m always touched, the TP BB flies in a cloud of plasma, the temperature is above 3000 degrees Celsius, the laser will still heat up to a million degrees? Even if they print a sextillion dollars, it won’t help.

[point]

The reserve of thermal insulation can still be exhausted, theoretically. But generally speaking, to check you need at least a target with similar characteristics (speed, altitude, plasma...), which in itself would be a solution. Roughly speaking, if they had zircons, they would not run into missile defense.
Since the military also understands this, hypersonic targets are apparently not being considered. And then one can only guess how difficult the targets they tested were. Something tells me that this stone flower came out, only they won’t ask the proctologist how, but will finance it for the sake of preserving the technological reserve. Although, on the other hand, with finances on this semi-continent everything will be tougher and tougher. In just 5 years, the question will arise: who to be friends with and how to do it with such a long land border with the east.

[Thrifty]

Actually, 20 kW is a close-range laser, three kilometers in range and a kilometer in height in ideal conditions. Unless the price of an impulse is low, because the developments have been in use for a long time. But the “spectral coupling” is strong! In what part of the spectrum does the laser even work? Although it is clear that it is closer to the violet part of the spectrum, otherwise the power would be much higher, since the ultraviolet laser produces a higher radiation temperature.

[km-21]

Quote: Thrifty

Actually, 20 kW is a close-range laser, three kilometers in range and a kilometer in height in ideal conditions.

For a laser, the altitude and range must be at least the same. And most likely the altitude is greater than the range, since with altitude the air density decreases and transparency increases.

[Michael]

Quote: km-21

For a laser, the altitude and range must be at least the same. And most likely the altitude is greater than the range, since with altitude the air density decreases and transparency increases.

[opuonmed]

does overexposure work?????????? and it seems that the Russian Federation had such installations

[alexoff]

Does much of what has been promoted over the last 8 years work? One lancet, it seems, and it was not much promoted, loomed somewhere behind the Orions-Altair-corsairs-hunters. Well, it’s also like a dagger, and the rest either appeared 10-20 years ago, or now they have started to rivet intensively

[KCA]

Contact the press service of the Moscow Military District, demand all the characteristics of modern weapons, for three months they will feed you, look after you, feed you haloperidol, well, if you’re just not crazy, they’ll let you out to eat weed

[KCA]

Relying on the removal of optics and other electronic devices, and not on the physical destruction of satellites, although who will tell, certainly not to us, few people will like the twenty in tour

[dump22]

product with a power of about 20 kW

Not enough, this is enough to destroy only a very light UAV.

[JOYyppe]

product with a power of about 20 kW


Not enough, this is enough to destroy only a very light UAV.

Well, don't tell me! As many as eight microwave ovens if they hit a plane moving at a speed of 20 thousand kame...

[Slon_on]

I’m no stranger to this issue, but how many cloudless days are there in the Baltic per year?

[point]

what about the pitching? And why is he so short-sighted against?..

[alexoff]

And against what targets was it tested? Against a dozen different Mavics?

[petrol cutter]

Here! The Nazis caught up.
What will Comrade “Peresvet” tell us?!
I would like to listen to the head of the transport department.

[petrol cutter]

Here! The Nazis caught up.
What will Comrade “Peresvet” tell us?! What are the results of the use, how many F16 satellites are planned to be shot down?
I would like to listen to the head of the transport department.

[Fangaro]

Output power 20 kW.
I don’t understand everything about lasers!
I don’t even understand how this could be a weapon.
But if we assume that there is a radio transmitter with an output power of 20 kW, then its consumption will be higher. Then it depends on all sorts of bullshit, like the type of modulation, measurement method, etc.
To emit 20 kW of light, how much will it be consumed?

[Sergey Koltakov]

Well, they made me laugh, from the heart, apparently they were hunting Cormorants)))!

[Grim Reaper]

Keyword: "Laser demonstrator"
Or rather two words.... :))))