Airborne Laser Weapon For Tactical Aircraft Being Developed By Germany
Germany has launched a new effort to develop an airborne laser weapon. MBDA Deutschland has received a contract to build a pod-based demonstrator intended to lay the technological foundations that could lead to future directed-energy capabilities aboard Luftwaffe aircraft. The new contract is Germany’s first formal foray into airborne laser weapons, but builds on years of German investment and maritime laser weapon trials.
As we have explored in the past, translating that progress into a practical aircraft-mounted weapon presents a much greater engineering challenge. While hurdles apply to lasers in general, they are particularly acute in airborne applications.
MBDA announced today that it had been contracted by the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to undertake the development effort. The project centers on a pod-based demonstrator system, with essential components already being designed.
According to MBDA, the longer-term objective is to develop an airborne laser capability that could be used to shoot down enemy drones and cruise missiles. There are other potential use cases, which we will come back to later on. An accompanying rendering also showed a pair of large, stealthy, fighter-like uncrewed aircraft with laser pods under the fuselage.
The company described airborne laser development as the “supreme discipline” of laser weapon technology, citing the particularly demanding requirements for size, weight, and resistance to the stresses associated with flight.
The announcement provides few details about the demonstrator’s technical specifications, intended host aircraft, laser output, or anticipated development schedule. No contract value or timeline has been disclosed.
The airborne demonstrator builds on a longer-running German effort to develop directed-energy technology. According to MBDA, laser technology has been considered a strategic priority for German research and development since 2019. It is also designated a key national technology under the German government’s National Security and Defense Industry Strategy (SVI Strategy).
MBDA is a fairly well-established industrial partner in this effort, having worked on laser effectors and weapons for all branches of the German armed forces. The company also highlights substantial investments of its own in recent years, which it says have enabled it to advance the underlying technologies and build and test various demonstrators.
An existing domestic technology base could provide MBDA with a head start in developing the airborne system. Experience with laser sources, beam control, tracking, and thermal management could potentially be carried over into the laser pod.
MBDA’s airborne project builds on a substantial history of German laser weapon development. The company says it has been working on the necessary technologies since 2008, conducting successive demonstrations and technology trials. It claims to have demonstrated the functionality of a complete laser weapon system as early as 2012.
A particularly important milestone came through cooperation with Rheinmetall. In 2021, the two companies received a BAAINBw contract to develop a maritime laser weapon demonstrator for the German Navy. The system was subsequently installed aboard the F124 frigate Sachsen in June 2022 and underwent an extensive series of sea trials that continued until September 2023.
During six test campaigns spanning nearly a year, the demonstrator conducted more than 100 test firings against different targets under increasingly complex conditions. The trials included tracking highly agile targets, integrating sensors and command systems, and engaging targets with the high-energy laser. A drone was also successfully shot down during a demonstration.
MBDA subsequently continued developing more compact and modular laser weapon configurations, seeking to move beyond the container-based demonstrator used aboard Sachsen. In September 2024, MBDA and Rheinmetall signed a further cooperation agreement aimed at developing a marketable maritime laser weapon, particularly for countering drones.
However, there is a big difference between a maritime laser weapon demonstration and adapting that same technology to aircraft. The power, cooling, weight, vibration, volume, and aerodynamic constraints of airborne operations bring a very different set of engineering challenges.
The attraction of an airborne laser weapon lies in its ability to engage incoming threats without expending conventional missiles, offering a functionally unlimited magazine depth as long as there is available electrical power and cooling capacity. This could be particularly valuable when facing down large waves of drones and/or cruise missiles, which, as mentioned, are the primary targets MBDA is envisioning for a future podded airborne laser weapon.
The increasing proliferation of relatively inexpensive longer-range one-way attack drones is already driving particularly significant demand for new, lower-cost anti-air intercept options and greater magazine depth. The transformation of the 70mm laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rocket, originally designed for air-to-surface attacks, into a highly effective counter-drone weapon that aircraft can carry in large numbers is a prime example of this.
The other potential use cases for a podded airborne laser weapon, as well, include attacking targets on the surface. In this mode, lasers offer the additional benefit of being silent and largely invisible to the naked eye, creating additional dilemmas for opponents who may not know where an attack is coming from. Still, this would be very limited to certain types of soft targets, if any at all.
Furthermore, crewed and uncrewed aircraft could also use laser pods for protecting themselves or other critical aerial assets against incoming threats, such as surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles. Drones with these pods could also potentially be able to shoot down missiles streaking toward high-value assets like airborne early warning aircraft, tankers, and other platforms.
At the same time, as we have discussed in the past, putting a high-energy laser aboard an aircraft presents a difficult combination of power, weight, thermal-management, and optical-control requirements. The system must accommodate the laser, its power-generation and conditioning equipment, cooling systems, beam director, tracking sensors, and associated electronics within a relatively constrained package.
Waste heat is a particularly important consideration. High-energy lasers generate considerable thermal loads, which must be removed without compromising the weapon or the aircraft’s other systems.
An externally mounted pod must also withstand aerodynamic loads, vibration, acceleration, and temperature variations. Its optical system must maintain precise beam alignment despite aircraft movement and vibration.
Atmospheric conditions introduce another limitation. Moisture, dust, and turbulence can absorb, scatter, or distort laser energy, reducing the amount reaching a target. Operating at altitude would offer some advantages, but it does not eliminate these effects and is not ideal for many drone and cruise missile targets.
Ultimately, a laser’s nominal power rating tells only part of the story. Beam quality, tracking accuracy, engagement range, atmospheric conditions, and the dwell time required to achieve a kill at various distances are equally important.
Germany’s effort comes as the U.S. military continues to reassess several high-profile directed-energy programs.
American laser weapon initiatives have encountered significant difficulties moving from technology demonstrations toward operational deployment.
The Air Force’s Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program was intended to develop a podded laser weapon capable of protecting fighter aircraft against incoming missiles and possibly engage other kinds of targets. Despite considerable development work in recent years, the program ended quietly and unceremoniously without achieving its central objective of demonstrating a complete laser weapon aboard a fighter aircraft.
Another ambitious effort, the Airborne High Energy Laser (AHEL) program, sought to equip the AC-130J Ghostrider gunship with a directed-energy weapon. This would be used against targets on the ground, a potential mission for a future fighter-mounted pod, too. The AHEL effort also encountered technical difficulties, and plans to test the system aboard the aircraft were abandoned.
The Army’s 50-kilowatt Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) program has likewise highlighted the difficulties of integrating high-energy lasers into operational military platforms, particularly in terms of thermal management, power requirements, and reliability. The Army has since had more success with lower-powered LOCUST systems in the counter-drone role, prompting Marine Corps and Navy interest, too. Meanwhile, the Army and Navy continue to push ahead on higher-powered lasers for ground- and ship-based applications.
These experiences underscore the fact that successfully engaging selected targets under controlled conditions is worlds apart from delivering a reliable combat capability.
For the German Defense Ministry and MBDA, the most important milestones will be demonstrating that the laser, beam director, tracking system, power supply, and cooling equipment can operate together within a practical airborne package. Subsequent flight testing and engagements against representative targets would then provide a much clearer indication of its potential.
Germany’s designation of laser technology as a strategic priority since 2019 indicates that the new contract forms part of a longer-term effort to build national expertise in directed-energy weapons.
The German effort comes amid a broader international push to develop directed-energy weapons, with ground-based and naval systems generally further along than airborne applications. In Europe, the United Kingdom is preparing to install its Dragonfire laser aboard a Royal Navy destroyer, while Germany, the Netherlands, and other NATO countries are pursuing laser systems for countering drones and other aerial threats.
China is also investing heavily in directed-energy technology, including mobile ground-based systems and naval lasers. These efforts reflect growing interest in using lasers to counter increasingly numerous and inexpensive threats, but they also highlight the gap between successful demonstrations and reliable operational capabilities.
For Germany, there is a lot of work to be done to bridge the gap between industrial investment, technological demonstrators, strategic prioritization, and deployable, reliable weapons. The experience of U.S. programs provides a reminder that the path from promising laser demonstrations to dependable operational systems is far from certain.
MBDA and the Bundeswehr have taken another step toward an airborne laser capability. But before an airborne laser pod gets close to being fielded, Germany has to overcome the many challenges that have complicated similar efforts elsewhere.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com