Northrop Grumman announced at the end of last week that the tactical high energy laser (THEL), built for the US Army, had shot down multiple mortar rounds in tests conducted on August 24.
During the tests, representative of actual mortar threat scenarios, the THEL testbed destroyed both single mortar rounds and mortar rounds fired in a salvo at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The tests were conducted by the US Army as part of the mobile THEL (MTHEL) program. The US Army is collaborating with the Israeli Ministry of Defense in the execution of the MTHEL program.
The purpose of the MTHEL program is to develop and test the first mobile directed energy weapon system capable of detecting, tracking, engaging, and defeating rockets-artillery-mortars (RAM), cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The THEL testbed has shot down a variety of threats since 2000, destroying about three dozen targets ranging from Katyusha rockets to artillery shells and large-caliber rockets, and now mortar threats as well.
The THEL demonstrator was designed, developed and produced by a Northrop Grumman-led team of U.S. and Israeli contractors for the US Space & Missile Defense Command and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Other US companies involved in testbed development are Ball Aerospace, and Brashear. Israeli companies that supported THEL advanced concept technology demonstrator (THEL/ACTD) development are Electro-Optic Industries; Israel Aircraft Industries, RAFAEL and Tadiran.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on Sunday, August 29, 2004