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The UK Ministry of Defence has officially awarded a £30m contract to produce a prototype laser weapon.

The aim is to see whether "directed energy"
technology could benefit the armed forces, and is to
culminate in a demonstration of the system in 2019.

The contract was picked up by a consortium of
European defence firms.
The prototype will be assessed on how it picks up
and tracks targets at different distances and in
varied weather conditions over land and water.
Peter Cooper, from the UK's Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory (DTSL) , headquartered at
Porton Down, said the project "draws on innovative
research into high power lasers so as to
understand the potential of the technology".
He added that this could "provide a more effective
response to the emerging threats that could be
faced by UK armed forces".

The MoD has been finalising the agreement with the
consortium, called UK Dragonfire, for several
months, but it has now formally announced them as
the winning contractor.

'Ahead of the curve'

A spokesperson for the MoD told BBC News that
the demonstrator was not being developed to
counter any specific threat, but to assess whether
such weaponry could be delivered as a capability
for the armed forces.

But in general, directed energy weapons could
potentially be used to destroy drone aircraft,
missiles, mortars, roadside bombs and a host of
other threats.

The US military has been experimenting with high
energy lasers for decades. But, until recently,
technical hurdles had prevented them from being
used on the frontline.

However, the US Navy fielded a laser weapon
system called Laws for testing on the USS Ponce
during a deployment to the Arabian Gulf starting in
2014.

It hit targets aboard a small boat which was
directed to speed towards the navy ship and also
shot a small drone out of the sky.

The Minister for Defence Procurement, Harriet
Baldwin, said that "truly ground-breaking projects
like the Laser Directed Energy Weapon" would
"keep this country ahead of the curve".

If the demonstration is successful, the first laser
weapons could come into service in the
mid-2020s.

The UK Dragonfire consortium comprises the
companies MBDA, Qinetiq, Leonardo-Finmeccanica
GKN, Arke, BAE Systems and Marshall ADG.

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