General Atomics Confirms Drone-Killing Air-to-Air Laser is in Development – Naval News
General Atomics Confirms Drone-Killing Air-to-Air Laser is in Development
General Atomics Confirms Drone-Killing Air-to-Air Laser is in Development – Naval News
General Atomics Confirms Drone-Killing Air-to-Air Laser is in Development
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From the article
After [*Naval News* got a first look at a new airborne laser prototype at Sea Air Space 2025](https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/sea-air-space-2025/2025/04/mq-9b-shown-with-airborne-laser-at-sea-air-space-2025/) earlier this month, [General Atomics](https://www.ga-asi.com/) has confirmed the existence of a joint program within the Department of Defense that is looking to deliver airborne laser weapons to the MQ-9 fleet currently fielded in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps.
*Naval News* received confirmation from a General Atomics spokesperson familiar with the matter. The spokesperson confirmed the existence of a program that is looking to add a new air-to-air laser weapon to the MQ-9 family; part of a joint program that is looking to deliver an airborne laser to provide a persistent counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAS) presence to the battlespace.
Is it a directed-energy weapon or just a signal-transmitting laser?
Pew! Pew! Becomes a reality. Drones are the future of air combat missions so it makes sense that drone killing tech evolves along side.
I’m super confused by what the expected CONOP here is. MQ9 is a loitering ISR platform, but they’re going to use it to chase down and neutralize other UAS?
The laser is also 25kW, which is on the low end for trying to deal with Group 3+ UAS, so is it meant to defeat Group 1-2? That probably means it’d be shooting down towards the ground. I wonder how they’ll prevent fratricide if that’s the case.