As coalition forces under Operation Prosperity Guardian and Operation Aspides continue to face off against an endless deluge of drone and missile attacks from Houthis, conversations about the cost effectiveness of current hard-kill weapon systems have been reignited.
A possible cost efficient solution to this problem could be follow-on efforts from the US Navy’s High Energy Laser Counter Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (ASCM) Project (HELCAP). The fruits from this program are close to being realized as it prepares to transition technology matured under it to an operational system.
According to recently released budget documents, the HELCAP program has a busy schedule ahead of it this year and next year.
Currently, the Navy has a single San Antonio-class amphibious transport ship equipped with the 150 kW Mk 2 Mod 0 Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD). Eight Arleigh-Burke class destroyers are also equipped with the Optical Dazzler Interdictor Navy (ODIN), and one Arleigh-Burke class destroyer with the 60 kW High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system.
HELCAP differs from these systems because these systems are meant for Counter-Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C-ISR) by either dazzling or destroying Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), while HELCAP is meant to defeat Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles in a specific “crossing” scenario.
This means that ships equipped with the system can only defend against missiles that are “crossing” them while headed for nearby friendly ships.
The US Navy initiated HELCAP in 2019 following the end of the Ruggedized High Energy Laser’s (RHEL) Phase I. The main goal of HELCAP is to serve as a building block for future programs by tackling technical challenges that have plagued laser weapons, such as advanced laser beam control, effects of atmospheric turbulence, precision tracking in high clutter environments, and automatic target identification and aimpoint selection.
The efforts of HELCAP and years of technology maturation under separate programs meant to tackle specific technological issues will culminate as these program elements come together to form the Laser Weapon Testbed (LWT) that is central to the HELCAP.
At the core of the Laser Weapon Testbed will be a 300+ kW class sourced from the Office Secretary of Defense’s High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), which has funded industry teams to deliver several 300+ kW class lasers.
This laser source will be combined with a prototype beam control testbed developed by the Navy and alongside a prototype control system, will all be integrated into an auxiliary prime power and cooling system.
This Laser Weapon Testbed will be moved to the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), where it will be conducting system verification testing this year. At White Sands, the LWT will begin its round of testing by assessing the system’s beam control, tracking, and adaptive optics subsystems performance.
After completing major component and subsystems testing, the Navy will start testing the system against targets of increasing complexity. At the low-end, the system will be tested against static ground targets, followed by dynamic (moving) ground targets, before eventually transitioning to interception of low-cost unmanned aerial targets and cruise missile surrogates.
Once the program comes to a close, it will serve as the basis for improving the Navy’s follow-on systems to the Surface Navy Laser Weapon System (SNLWS) Increment I (HELIOS). As of currently writing, there are no plans for the program to have leave-behind assets or prototypes for integration into ships.
