The European Defense Agency (EDA) recently awarded one of two industry teams a service contract for the provision of a study on the use of directed energy weapons on board naval ships against unmanned vehicles.

Rheinmetall and MBDA Deutschland have agreed to collaborate in the high-energy laser effectors domain. The two companies intend to construct, integrate and test a laser demonstrator for the German Navy’s corvette K130.

Rheinmetall continues to make steady headway in the world of laser weapons, having recently completed a number of comprehensive trials with a weapon station. In combination with a laser, the weapon station demonstrated its speed and precision in tests conducted in December 2018. The weapon station can be armed with lasers in the 100 kW output power range.