Projections on the deployment of high energy lasers for missile defence

Missile defence is a large and quickly evolving area in all defence sectors. There are currently several new missile defence technologies under development such as the High Velocity Projectile, the Electromagnetic Railgun and High Energy Lasers. The area that offers the most promise is the High Energy Laser (HEL). The operating principle of the HEL is to deliver thermal energy to a target to disrupt its function and/or destroy it. Unlike conventional kinetic energy weapons such as explosives and solid projectiles, HELs deliver thermal energy to a selected target to disrupt its operation. HELs transmit thermal energy as a concentrated beam of light focused on a small area of the selected target to disrupt its operation or cause critical damage that leads to the failure of the target. HELs are currently being developed to defend against several types of threats such as rockets, artillery shells, mortars, small UAVs and manned aircraft, anti-ship cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. This paper details existing HEL systems and elaborates on the future deployment of these systems in active defence environments, further development of HELs, and the costs, benefits and drawbacks associated with operating such systems in the future.