A report recently published by Breaking Defense confirms that Lockheed Martin has delivered the LANCE, a high-energy portable laser weapon in pod form, to the US Air Force.
Laser weapons will now be used on warplanes
Developed by the Lockheed Martin company, the LANCE is a high-energy laser weapon developed since November 2017 under the Air Force’s SHiELD program. LANCE stands for “Laser developments for the next generation of compact environments”. This new laser weapon, being small and light, requires less power compared to previous laser weapons, making it easier to integrate into warplanes.
LANCE, which will be integrated into warplanes, especially the F-16 and F-35, will be used to destroy missiles coming from the ground or from the air towards the aircraft. Speaking about the next phase of LANCE, which is still in the testing phase, Lockheed Martin executive Tyler Griffin said that LANCE will be integrated with a thermal system to manage heating and cooling. Griffin also said that LANCE is the smallest, lightest, high-energy laser in its power class that Lockheed Martin has ever produced.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory said in a statement in 2017 that it plans to test the laser weapon on a fighter jet by 2021. However, the emergence of some problems and the COVID-19 outbreak hampered the project. While the project’s timeline is unclear for now, Lockheed Martin said it expects to see LANCE on fighter jets by 2025. It has not been announced yet when the LANCE system will start active shooting tests.
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