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In a first, �Ӱ���Ƶ’s Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS) engaged and defeated Group 3 uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) — a category of larger drones weighing up to 1,320 pounds (~ 600 kilograms) and capable of carrying heavier, advanced payloads — with a 5-kilowatt laser at the Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center in Saudi Arabia.

Two �Ӱ���Ƶ field engineers integrated the system with the Army’s Forward Area Air Defense (FAAD) Command and Control (C2) network to receive cues from a radar system within minutes prior to carrying out the demonstrations alongside representatives from U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) and U.S. Army Central Command.

Why it matters: The annual counter-UAS exercise, dubbed RED SANDS, was a collaborative event hosted by the U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces to test select industry capabilities in a realistic environment to counter the rapidly proliferating UAS threat.

“There’s no substitute for getting to work alongside servicemembers in real theater conditions where you have desert heat, dust, atmospherics — you name it — to fine tune our c-UAS systems and show what they can do,” said Ron Dauk, program manager for �Ӱ���Ƶ’s Directed Energy portfolio. “As the only directed energy system at RED SANDS, CLWS again showed that it fits a warfighter need as an important piece of the broader layered air defense puzzle on the modern battlefield.”

• RED SANDS followed a counter-UAS challenge hosted by DEVCOM at Fort Drum, New York, where �Ӱ���Ƶ CLWS units integrated with a military-grade all-terrain vehicle and Army C2 networks to defeat small drones in a variety of scenarios.
• Plus, CLWS units recently returned from a successful multi-year overseas deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Zoom out: �Ӱ���Ƶ’s CLWS has now defeated nearly 500 drones — ranging from Group 3 and first-person-view drones to swarms — in dozens of demonstrations, scenarios and environments by operators using an Xbox controller with as little as one hour of training. The combat-proven, multi-mission system is capable of:

• Providing a full counter-UAS response at distances ranging from 650 feet (200 meters) to 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometers);
• Meeting U.S. and international integrated C2 requirements;
• Operating in a fixed containerized or mobile configuration; and
• Individually or cooperatively detecting and defeating both single and multiple UAS simultaneously.

Go deeper: Watch the official .