Spear Power Systems has provided an advanced lithium-ion battery system for a counter-unmanned aerial system (CUAS) delivered earlier this month by defence technology company Raytheon to the US Air Force.
The system is installed on a small all-terrain vehicle and will be deployed overseas as part of the airforce experiment that will last for a year.
Operators will be given training on the system, whose effectiveness will be tested in real-world conditions.
Spear Power said the highly compact battery delivers a great amount of power to the laser and the high power allows the system to neutralise the UAS in a matter of seconds.
Spear Power Systems president and CEO Jeff Kostos said: “Protecting the American warfighter and our allies from the threat posed by enemy drones is a top priority for the nation. We help enable Raytheon to make this solution highly mobile, by making the battery small and lightweight. The real key, though, was getting them a solution quickly.
“We delivered a highly customised solution in a matter of months to Raytheon, and that means protection will be in the field faster.”
The first directed energy weapon (DEW) battery, which was delivered by Spears directly to the US Air Force in 2013, allowed developing energy storage for high energy laser and high power microwave applications.
Raytheon’s high-energy laser weapon system uses an advanced variant of the company’s Multi-spectral Targeting System, an electro-optical / infrared sensor, to detect and track rogue drones.
Raytheon’s portfolio of sensors, command and control systems, and kinetic and non-kinetic effectors covers all aspects of the UAS threat.
