US Army Gets World Record-Setting 60-kW Laser

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June 19, 2017 | Originally published by Date Line: June 19 on

The U.S. Army is taking delivery of a 60 kilowatt-class laser from Lockheed Martin as the company wraps up demonstrations of the capability.

“In testing earlier this month, the Lockheed Martin laser produced a single beam of 58kW, representing a world record for a laser of this type,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

Now that the laser is in Army hands, Radiance Technologies, which has been working on Boeing”s High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) program since 2012 will conduct laboratory testing of the new laser.

Once the laser is integrated onto the Army”s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or HEMTT, that becomes the High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck. Radiance will coordinate all testing of the laser against targets.