Australia demonstrates 'brutal destruction' with first directed energy weapon, Fractl

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

1 5 minutes read

AIM Defense personnel operate the AIM Defense Counter-UAS Directed Energy Weapons System during a demonstration at the Puckapunyal Military Area, Victoria. Photos of Corporal Jacob Joseph. Australian Department of Defense © Commonwealth Copyright 2024

The Australian Defense Force (ADF) demonstrated a deployable prototype of its first directed energy weapon (DEW), the Fractl portable high-energy laser, at the Puckapunyal Range in May.

The DEW, which is capable of tracking objects “as small as a dime” moving at 100 km/h for distances of up to 1 km, is part of the ADF's expansion of its arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

An Australian Department of Defense statement dated June 17, 2024 highlights the speed of training soldiers as operators using intuitive controls and sophisticated computer-assisted tracking.

Corporal Patrick Flanagan said he received an introduction to the system in about five minutes before successfully using it to engage and destroy a drone, emphasizing the versatility and precision of the targeting process: “With your index finger, you can quickly change targets. your aim between the drone's video camera, the central mass or one of the propellers. It only takes a few seconds to turn off the camera and two or three seconds to turn off the rotor.

Fractl, built by Melbourne-based AIM Defense, was demonstrated at a range of 500 meters against a drone at Puckapunyal, achieving a “difficult kill” with “less than the amount of energy needed to boil a kettle” , according to the Ministry of Defense.

AIM Defense co-founder Jessica Glenn said the company is focused on extending the effective range of the system, so it can perform “hard kill” to 1km and function as a counter-sensor. up to 1.5 km.

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DEW systems offer a silent tool with an unlimited magazine to counter UAS, with the ability to outperform armored crews in terms of resource efficiency, as Eli Lea, Warrant Officer Class Two (WO2) of the Office of Implementation points out. implementation and coordination of robotic and autonomous systems (RICO). .

Lea was present at the demonstration, where Fractl was used side-by-side with armored crews, and mentioned that the armored crews used a large amount of ammunition and hit the target at very close range, with “no margin for error.”

Trust Challenge Remains for DEW Sector

The DEW sector will be encouraged by the Fractl's performance in a short-range scenario demonstration, but until the range of DEW systems increases, its main challenge to greater prominence will be the competition between resource efficiency and system confidence.

DEW provides excellent resource efficiency, particularly in counter-UAS roles, where low-cost attributable payloads are delivered en masse. Conventional air defense missiles cost far more than modern drones, and the ease with which UAS are produced poses a challenge to maintaining a comparative level of air defense. With a laser-based C-UAS, the cost imbalance is reversed, with each shot from a DEW representing only a few dollars of energy.

However, DEW C-UAS are intended to appear as part of a tiered air defense system in conjunction with longer-range and more expensive missile-based defenses. A target coming from a longer range must be detached and interdicted by longer range systems before reaching the DEW's narrowest effective radius. A commander seeking to mount a resource-efficient defense – one that does not employ missile defense – would need absolute confidence in the DEW to interdict the target in the final moments of its time-to-reach of the target.

However, as Lea points out, an air defense system with an unlimited magazine will remain a valuable capability in an environment where drone strikes regularly exceed the missile base's defense capacity: “Lessons learned from Ukraine are that drones are a real problem. and if we don't do something, we're going to have a rude awakening in the next fight.