High Energy Laser Lab (HEL LAB)
Governments are facing an upcoming threat of small and cheap air vehicles (drones) intruding restricted airspace. The use of High Energy Laser as an effector against these threats is an potential upcoming technology
The Challenge
Research of effective ways to detect and neutralize these vehicles with a minimum of collateral damage.
The Solution
Research of relevant aspects of the HEL technology, system integration and operational deployment. Royal NLR is conducting tests in our HEL LAB to research the effects of laser energy on different types of materials (e.g. aluminum, composites). Each material has its own properties that results in a required amount of energy over a minimal dwell time. The essence of our research is to determine the most efficient way of effecting an object.
What did we do?
The main R&D activities of the project are:
- The effects of laser energy on materials
- Developing an interaction model in which materials and the effect of laser energy are calculated
- The impact of the way of targeting an intruding object with laser energy
- Safety issues of the use of laser energy in an environment (civil and military)
Integration of potential systems on aircraft platforms.
Project partners
Industry (NL) : Netherlands Ministry of Defence
Research organisations : Royal NLR
Start : June 2018
Duration : ongoing
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