UK DragonFire is a project to develop new directed energy weapon technologies as part of UK defence’s broader goal to become a world-leader in the domain. An onshore team of industry experts – MBDA, QinetiQ and Leonardo UK – is working in partnership with the MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to deliver the programme. LDEW technology could revolutionise the future battlefield by allowing Armed Forces to operate without ammunition and reducing the risk of collateral damage.
Leonardo’s beam director technology is critical to the UK DragonFire system and presents a major engineering challenge: to deliver ultra-precise tracking/pointing accuracy and stability, at long range, in order for a laser to defeat the target. This must be maintained while the target is moving, the platform carrying the laser system is moving and there is atmospheric interference in between the platform and the target.
So far, Leonardo has delivered two prototype UK DragonFire beam directors. The first was integrated and tested in earlier trials, where its pointing and tracking capability performed beyond expectations. The company has since refurbished the beam director and made some further modifications.
The latest live trials are allowing Leonardo engineers to test the second beam director in realistic conditions, fully integrated with the laser source. The results so far have been impressive, with pinpoint accuracy maintained at long-ranges. The next step will be to mature this technology and develop it into a battlefield-ready suite of capabilities.
Facing a fierce challenge to deliver a brand new capability, the UK DragonFire project is drawing on Leonardo’s decades of laser technology heritage. The company is expert in both beam director technology (as seen in UK DragonFire and, in a smaller format, as part of the US Army’s Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) programme and Leonardo’s exportable Miysis Directed Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) product) and in high energy designator lasers, for example the laser in the F-35’s Electro-Optical Targeting System. Leonardo in Edinburgh is the world leader in the high-energy military laser market, accounting for over 60% of all airborne laser sales globally.
Leonardo is also working on a number of other UK-led LDEW-related projects. The company is a member of the UK MOD's Weapons Sector Research Framework (WSRF) and projects include the development of a UK laser amplifier which will provide the “kWs” within LDEW systems. As a founding member of Tempest, the international programme to create a next-generation combat air system, Leonardo is also currently developing advanced Electro-Optic/InfraRed (EO/IR) capabilities as part of the new aircraft’s Integrated Sensing and Non-Kinetic Effects (ISANKE) system.
