Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

Pelican wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2019 10:05 am US, UK jointly test energy storage systems for laser weapons

The US Navy and the UK defense ministry have tested an energy storage system capable of providing high-power electrical pulses for future systems under an agreement called Advanced Electric Power and Propulsion Project Arrangement (AEP3).

UK’s Defence Equipment & Support office and Dstl joined forces with the US Naval Sea Systems Command’s Electric Ship Office and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to test the Flywheel Energy Storage System (FESS), which uses high-speed & lightweight flywheels to provide high-power electrical pulses.

The project has demonstrated the capability to manage the energy demands of novel future capabilities such as the Dragonfire Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) currently being developed by Dstl & industry.

USA testing was also supported by US Coalition Warfare Program (CWP) funding.

Both nations used a Power Hardware-In-the-Loop (PHIL) approach, where a ‘real’ FESS was integrated into a virtual ship power system emulating a RN ship operating in real-time. This approach offers a cost effective way to develop the hardware and de-risk its integration into a real ship, as well as to develop control and operating approaches.

After testing the FESS at the Florida State University’s (FSU) CAPs facility, the FESS was brought back to the UK and tested at the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) in Scotland. This has allowed the UK to develop its PHIL capabilities and allowed both nations to validate their facilities and models against each other.

“This technology was originally developed by the Williams F1 team and was brought to us for potential use in Defence,” Andrew Tate from Dstl, said.

“We saw an attractive option to bolster defense capability through the provision of more robust and futureproof power systems for naval ships.”

From - https://navaltoday.com/2019/05/02/us-uk ... vEKqFOlnng


For the first time: Dragonfire showcases laser weapon model at DSEI

Dragonfire, a consortium contracted to develop a laser directed energy weapon for the Royal Navy, is showcasing a full-size model of the weapon at the DSEI expo in London for the first time ever.

In January this year, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), awarded a £30million contract to the Dragonfire consortium, composed of QinetiQ, Leonardo-Finmeccanica, GKN, Arke, BAE Systems, Marshall ADG and MBDA at the helm.

The team’s goal was to use what technologies are at hand to make a high energy defensive laser weapon system that will include the engagement of representative targets in land and maritime environments in 2019.

The LDEW technology provides operational advantage to the UK military and the potential to export such systems in support of the Prosperity agenda, as advocated in the UK’s 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, by developing on-shore industrial capability.

Peter Cooper, Dstl’s Project Technical Authority for Dragonfire, said: “Dragonfire is the culmination of many years of work in the area of laser directed energy weapons. We are looking forward to the 2019 demonstration and, working with our industry colleagues, we aim provide the UK Armed Forces with innovative, effective and affordable solutions to the emerging threats they face.”

From - https://navaltoday.com/2017/09/13/for-t ... l-at-dsei/

ivorthediver wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2019 10:47 am Thanks David , but there are so many items released under the banner of Laser Weapons its a case of seeing the wood for the trees i.e. the Swedish Navy are releasing a Laser targeting system
The word is banded about so often that its difficult to know precisely what they refer to .......rail Guns ....laser guns .... the last I heard they couldn't afford the ammunition so currently obsolete .........laser guns .....insufficient data available yet just broad sweeping statements of generality