Have this article read to you at https://youtu.be/tE9fFzLquLI
What’s a drone blog without anti-drone content? Here is a big, bad laser to shoot hostiles out of the air. The patent’s first sentence goes as follows: “Hostile or undesired events across the globe remind us that real-world threats can be found around practically every corner. And with the spread of small, low-cost-yet-capable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), the U.S. government and private sector need a quick and sophisticated way to identify, classify, and destroy any asymmetric threats to forward positions and key infrastructure.”
“A HEL weapon system provides impressive flexibility and counter unmanned air systems (C-UAS) employment options in fixed, semi-fixed, and mobile configurations.” Indeed, 17 out of 31 M1 Abrams tanks were taken out by drones in the Ukraine. The “HEL weapon system includes an extended magazine depth and long continuous laser on-time”. No idea how long “continuous” could be, but probably long enough for you to etch your name into a barn door.
To spot the hostile drones, the invention uses “an integrated electronic warfare system including artificial intelligence (AI) detection and tracking algorithms to detect, track, intercept and/or defeat UAS.” The patent also emphasizes that optics play a big role in drone detection, supplemented by radar.
Claim 1: “A high energy laser (HEL) weapon system comprising: a payload assembly including a laser payload module and an optical payload module; the laser payload module including a HEL optical assembly and a HEL fast steering mirror assembly disposed in a first predetermined optically aligned arrangement with one another; the optical payload module including a first camera and a second camera disposed in a second predetermined optically aligned arrangement with one another and each respective camera having a respective camera optical element; and wherein the HEL optical assembly and the HEL fast steering mirror assembly of the laser payload module do not share any of the respective camera optical elements of the optical payload module.”
Title: “High Energy Laser Defense Weapon System With Automated UAS Detection And Classification Functionality”
US Patent No: 12281880
Filed (US Prov.): 2022-10-06
Published: 2025-04-22
Assignee: KORD TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
