Embarked on a French frigate, the Helma-P laser system succeeded between June 12 and 14 in destroying drones approaching the building in the Mediterranean.
A laser beam to defend the ships of the French Navy? It’s almost done: the Ministry of the Armed Forces announced Tuesday, June 20 the success of a laser firing on board a French frigate against drones.
The system, baptized Helma-P for “High-energy laser with multiple applications – power” and mounted on the helicopter carrier deck of the frigate Forbin, succeeded between June 12 and 14 in destroying drones approaching the building in the Mediterranean. .
A ten-second shot from 1km away
The Helma-P’s ability to track and destroy surveillance drones in flight had been established since 2020, based on a positioning of the machine on the ground. The tests then took place in Biscarosse. Except that, in practice, it’s a whole different story to effectively operate laser fire from a moving platform, such as a moving vehicle or ship. Concretely, the Helma-P is capable of grilling a drone in less than ten seconds at 1,000 meters, and should be available in 2024.
The test carried out in June is therefore conclusive, announces the Ministry of the Armed Forces, which specifies that the ships of the French Navy should be equipped with this device, in the long term. “The integration of drones into operations is a major development in conflicts and in naval combat in particular. At sea, aerial drones can be used to monitor, disrupt or attack ships and aircraft“, explains the ministry.
The weapon is very economical
The system, developed by the Cilas company (owned by the French defense companies Safran and MBDA), is not a unique model throughout the world. The Israelis, with their Iron Beam system, and the Americans, are already on the verge of acquiring such laser weapons for their navies. These so-called “directed energy” weapons, which produce a very high-energy beam of light, are capable of “burning” an approaching device within seconds.
And, above all, the cost of a laser shot is out of all proportion to a shot from an anti-aircraft defense missile: several tens of thousands of euros for a missile against barely a few euros for a laser shot, which makes it the the most effective weapon (from a quality/price point of view) against drones which, themselves, do not cost more than a few hundred euros to produce.