A laser weapon demonstration to counter small UAS: lessons learned

Small unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAS), or drones, has shown to be a significant threat to humans, equipment and infrastructure in military conflicts, as recently highlighted in Ukraine. This has motivated development of various countermeasures technologies. One promising countermeasure is laser weapons, which offers speed and low cost per engagement. However, the practical experience with these weapons is limited, and the technology is relatively new, resulting in restricted expertise within the armed forces compared to conventional weaponry. To increase the awareness and evaluate the technological readiness of the laser weapons in a counter-UAS context the Swedish Armed Forces commissioned the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) to organize a demonstration of a commercial laser weapon system in Sweden. This work details the week-long demonstration at the Älvdalen firing range during week 45, 2024, which was conducted in collaboration with The Boeing Company using their Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS). Saab AB contributed by integrating their Giraffe 1X radar and C2 system with CLWS. Approximately 50 drones where successfully engaged in various scenarios. The jitter of the CLWS system and weather conditions were measured during the trial. This work will also discuss lessons learned for setting up such a demonstration. The main conclusion from the demonstration is that laser weapons are efficient and relatively mature against smaller drones at kilometer ranges. However, due to the limited duration of the trial further studies are needed to gain more tactical experience and explore the influence from atmospheric parameters on weapon performance.