A combatant embarking on a journey into the future from, sаy, the 1980s would find the contemporary battlefields to be completely foreign. The hardware that was once considered crucial to the success of a mission is now considered obsolete, and the proliferation of new armaments means that no amount of training from that era could have adequately prepared a combatant for this reality.

Just consider the matter. Once the workhorses of mechanized infantry divisions, tanks are now relegated to the status of fixed artillery pieces due to the incursion of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and, more recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Subsequently, drones are not the sole contemporary lethal implements traversing the battlefield. Hypersonic missiles, intelligent or less intelligent rockets, GPS-guided artillery projectiles, and mortar rounds that precisely land to inflict maximum damage are all within our arsenal.

Similar to contemporary soldiers, a modern defense system against these hazards would be essential for survival in the 1980s. For instance, a formidable laser system that possesses the ability to destrоy fixed and rotary wing aircraft, as well as UAVs, rockets, artillery, mortars, and even rockets, well in advance of their intended targets.

The United States military has been developing this sophisticated new defensive weapon for some time, but it was not until this week that it was decided which company would manufacture it: Lockheed Martin.

Development of the Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL) system has been ongoing for some time. It was initiated in 2019 by means of an apparatus known as the High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator.

That was a 100 kW-class laser that Lockheed Martin constructed to demonstrate its capabilities to the military. In contrast, the IFPC is a 300 kW beast that ought to be utilized in tandem with more conventional defensive methods.

The laser is specifically engineered for safeguarding fixed and semi-fixed assets against adversary weaponry. However, due to the fact that this domain remаins largely unexplored, even for the United States, substantial preliminary testing will be required on operationally significant targets.

In order for this to occur, the U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin an undisclosed-value contract to manufacture and deliver at least four of these 300 kW-class lasers. The High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI) laser, the “most powerful solid-state directed energy technology delivered” by the company last year, will serve as the foundation for each of these weapons; however, the precise details of each weapon have not been disclosed.

The exact moment when the lasers will be put into operation is unknown, but we do know that the Army wants them operational as quickly as possible, particularly considering the current volatile and near-explosive state of the world.