High-Energy Laser Weapon System test-fired from British Army Wolfhound vehicle

Raytheon's HELWS has been integrated into and test-fired for the first time from a British Army vehicle, the Wolfhound. (Crown copyright)

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Raytheon UK announced on 22 July that the company and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) have test-fired Raytheon's High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) from a British Army Wolfhound 6×6 armoured vehicle.

During the test at Dstl's range at Porton Down, the laser weapon fired at full power – 15 kW. Dstl said the laser weapon neutralised targets at distances exceeding 1 km and told Janes on 23 July that there were a range of targets. A Raytheon spokesperson told Janes on 22 July that the laser was fired at a container at Porton Down and will be fired at unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during user experimentation trials with the British Army in September.

The lightweight, portable HELWS is the first laser weapon integrated into a land vehicle and fired in the UK by a British Army vehicle, according to the MoD and Raytheon. Developed to defeat NATO class 1 UAVs under the MoD's Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) Demonstrator programme, HELWS is highly compatible with existing air-defence systems, including radar, command-and-control (C2), and other platforms, according to Raytheon.

The company emphasised the ever greater importance of the rapid adoption of counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) technologies given the increasing prevalence, proliferation, and evolution of UAV warfare. The Raytheon spokesperson said, “We were first contracted in late 2021 to develop and install the laser capability on the Wolfhound.”