Page 12 - FARNBOROUGH 2022 SHOW REVIEW

INTERVIEW

having to import it back into the US.” neering, and the science behind how you harness
that power differently. For many years, lasers were
Lasers make sense from a cost and safety perspective, says always talked about as something that are going
Flores. “It is a much more economical solution to defeat the to be ready for products in five years. It was always
asymmetric threat from drones. It makes no sense to shoot a five years away. We are proud of the fact that we
missile at what could be a US$100-200 drone, especially in pop- have demonstrated that lasers are here today.”
ulated areas. That is something you would never do. Another
advantage is that you can use it immediately. As long as the Built to Protect
system is plugged in, it continues to recharge. If it is not plugged RI&S laser weapon systems, which work on land,
in, it has 200 seconds of power. In that time, you can defeat in the air and at sea, provides 360-degree cover-
about 30-40 drones. It takes only about 30 minutes to recharge.” age that protects bases, airports, stadiums and
other high-value military or civilian targets. The
Ahead of the Pack system’s open architecture is another key highlight,

There are other companies developing laser weapon systems, says Flores. “That gives us the ability to advance
but Flores is confident of Raytheon being the preeminent player in and provide new software code that helps the
the market. “Our discriminator is two-fold. One is how advanced system evolve. The software agility that we have
we are - we are already in production; our system is deployed. introduced really takes us to the next level when it
The other, from a technology perspective, is the beam director. comes to helping our customers continually evolve
Part of how lasers work is how well you control the power that with the threat. That is what we are putting for-
you have. You really need to focus all of that energy in one spot. ward across our entire portfolio. We do not have
Some of these drones are highly maneuverable, but our beam the luxury of time to develop a brand-new system
director is able to focus on targets, hone-in, and stay on them, every time there is a new threat. It is about making
and be able to focus that laser energy in a very small area. It is the most of existing capabilities, advancing them
very concentrated power. Not everybody can do that piece of it.” to the future, and looking to continually upgrade
what is already deployed.”
RI&S is currently licensed to export 50-KW laser weapon system
to multiple countries. “That is what we are focused on, for domes- Flores expects the strength of Raytheon
tic and abroad” says Flores. “We think that is the right solution Technologies to come together “ in very unique
for this set of treats. When you start getting into much larger ways to address future threats, both on the
threats, there are other tools that you could use, and lasers may defence and commercial side.” “We have our core
not make the most sense.” competencies, but we are really looking for syn-
ergies across the entire portfolio. We partner very
There are lessons to be learned from the ongoing Russian war heavily with the missiles and defense side because
on Ukraine, says Flores. “A lot of commercial drones are being of the radar side of what they provide, but we are
used differently than they were intended; we are seeing them also actively working with Collins Aerospace as
become kind of an airborne IED similar to what we saw many well, it is really exciting to watch our teams come
years ago in the Middle East. We foreshadowed that this would together.”
happen and spent many years investing in lasers, the engi-
12 AUGUST 2022 WWW.GBP.COM.SG