Coast Guard issues RFI as it considers arming vessels with high-energy lasers
The U.S. Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center is reaching out to industry for detailed information on vendors’ directed energy systems that could be deployed on vessels or piers and zap adversary drones or other “targets of interest.”
The Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security, but it’s also considered a military service and often deploys its platforms to support the Navy and the joint force.
The organization released a request for information Monday as it conducts market research to determine the availability and technical readiness of high-energy laser technologies for maritime applications.
“The USCG is investigating advances in directed energy technologies and their potential to augment current fleet capabilities. Directed energy is defined as electromagnetic systems capable of converting chemical or electrical energy to radiated energy and focusing it on a target, resulting in physical damage that degrades, neutralizes, defeats, or destroys an adversarial capability,” officials wrote in the RFI.
Primary “targets of interest” that the service might want to zap include unmanned aerial systems and uncrewed surface vessels, according to the document.
Potential installation locations for Coast Guard directed energy weapons include vessels at sea — such as on-the-move cutters and small boats — or fixed sites such as piers, the RFI noted.
Uncrewed systems are a growing threat that the U.S military services are moving to address by developing and procuring new technologies for their counter-drone arsenals in the homeland and overseas.
For example, earlier this month the Pentagon awarded deals to support the department’s Joint Laser Weapon System program and meet “urgent operational demands.” Subsequent, more powerful iterations are expected to use “containerized form factors” for integration across ground and naval platforms, according to a July 9 DOD press release.
Navy brass have signaled an interest in more aggressively deploying directed energy weapons across their fleet.
Benefits of high-energy lasers from a military perspective include speed-of-light engagement, low cost per shot and deep magazines. However, there are significant technical challenges associated with developing and integrating DE weapons, such as beam control, thermal management, and size, weight and power (SWaP) issues.
Maritime environments can be particularly difficult places to field the technology.
“The unique challenges of the maritime environment may require packaging to protect against shock, vibration, sea spray, and airborne particulates, including smoke and fuel exhaust,” Coast Guard officials noted in the new RFI.
“Information is specifically requested regarding physical dimensions of the effector: its weight, power requirements, cooling requirements, and rough order of magnitude for cost of acquisition and installation. Responses should also include wavelength, output power, area of effect, and range information. Software load to include target profiles and targeting methods should be included as available,” they wrote in the document.
The RFI asks vendors for a list of details about their offerings related to physical characteristics, mounting and interface requirements, prior performance, safety features and logistics.
Industry responses to the sources-sought notice are due Aug. 20.
