Hanwha Corporation announced on 31 May that it has secured a contract to develop a laser oscillator for use in future, laser-based short-range air-defence weapon systems designed to primarily engage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The company said in a statement that the KRW24.3 billion (USD21.9 million) contract, which was awarded by the country's Agency for Defense Development (ADD), is aimed at developing a prototype within four years.
The laser oscillator plays a key role in generating the laser beam and determines the performance of the laser weapon.
Laser-based weapons are geared towards engaging fast-moving targets quickly and accurately, making them particularly useful against small UAVs and missiles that conventional weapons cannot easily engage.
South Korea's Hanwha Corporation announced on 31 May that it has been awarded a USD21.9 million contract to develop a laser oscillator for use in future laser-based, short-range air-defence weapon systems. (Hanwha Corporation)
The contract announcement comes after the ADD revealed on 25 May that it had developed a laser-power enhancing technology for use in future weapon systems, with the most immediate application being a laser-based air-defence system.
This technology combines multiple lasers with different wavelengths into a single beam, which is understood to refer to a technique known as spectral beam combining. Hanwha said that the ADD-developed ‘spectral beam-combining technology' would be applied to the development of the laser oscillator.
Looking to read the full article?
Gain unlimited access to Janes news and more...
