50-kilowatt lasers
 

I have not looked but do we have these 50-kilowatt lasers in the game?

Office of Chief of Public Affairs (OCPA)
Media Assessments Team

U.S. Army News Roundup
11 August 2022 as of 0400

Daily Snapshot

Newsroom (New Zealand) reported that GEN Charles Flynn, CG of USARPAC, invited New Zealand forces to train at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Hawaii to strengthen regional alliances in the Indo-Pacific. Breaking Defense reported that Strykers belonging to an air defense battery at Fort Sill will be equipped with 50-kilowatt lasers in the next 45 days. Aviation Week reported that the Army plans to deliver its first live missiles with a hypersonic glide vehicle to an operational unit in about six months.

Re: 50-kilowatt lasers
 

Full article.

‘Bullet made out of light’: Army to field first Stryker-mounted combat laser in next 45 days
(Breaking Defense, Aug. 10, Andrew Eversden)

The US Army’s rapid capabilities office plans to deliver its first combat laser to Stryker units in next few weeks and is moving ahead with a project to mount a laser weapon on another vehicle, according to the office’s director.

Speaking at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala., Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood, head of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, said today the first battery of Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) will go to an air defense battery at Fort Sill, Okla. in the next 45 days.

The DE M-SHORAD program, one of the Army’s top 35 modernization priorities, mounts a 50-kilowatt laser onto a Stryker vehicle. It’s designed to defend soldiers against drones from size group one (up to 20 pounds) through three (up to 1,320 pounds), in addition to rockets, mortars and artillery. Thurgood said during a presentation that the Army still has “a lot to learn” about directed energy, but said the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) will largely remain the same.

“The TPPs for firing a laser are almost like the TPPs for firing a bullet,” Thurgood said. “It’s just a bullet made out of light — that’s the only differences. The kill chain is the same.”

Thurgood said the DE M-SHORAD system has already participated in two live fire events. At the first live fire, the platform was able to “track” mortar rounds, but didn’t take them out. After six additional months of work, the DE M-SHORAD program was able to defeat the mortars.

To better protect smaller infantry units, Thurgood said that RCCTO recently kicked off a project to put a 20-kilowatt laser on an infantry squad vehicle, a small troop transport that can carry nine soldiers. The new project, called the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL), will be delivered in FY2023.

The capabilities of the 20-kilowatt laser for AMP-HEL are more limited than its Stryker-mounted counterpart, and can only defend against group one and two unmanned systems. Soldiers would still be vulnerable to group three drones and rockets, artillery and mortars.

The Army is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in counter-unmanned aerial systems as the proliferation of low-cost drones threatens soldiers and installations both abroad and domestically. In conflicts abroad in just the last few years, drones have been proven their effectiveness in delivering munitions on targets, artillery spotting and other reconnaissance missions. In fiscal 2022 appropriations, Congress gave the Army $434 million for counter-UAS efforts, up from its budget request of $60 million.

Re: 50-kilowatt lasers
 

The USMC is also experimenting with anti-drone systems.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/...-drone-system/

But currently there is no way to target ONLY drones in WinSPMBT so anything would act as anti-aircraft. Thus, if in range, target aircraft (including bombers) and helicopters as well as drones.