What’s Inside Darpa’s $21 Million ‘Liquid’ Laser?

Things are really beginning to heat up in the field of laser weapons. The giant Airborne Laser is finally gearing up for real-life, missile-zapping tests. New solid-state lasers like Raytheon’s Phalanx can already shoot down mortar rounds. Now, Darpa is weighing in with an yet another technology: HELLADS or “High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System.” Weaponeer Textron will get $21 million in Darpa bucks “to design, fabricate and test a Unit Cell Module for a 150 kilowatt (kW) Laser Weapon System,” according to a company press release.

As you’d expect from Darpa, the new laser is aiming for quantum leap, with a power-to-weight ratio ten times better than existing laser systems. The end product will be the size of a large refrigerator and weight of 1650 pounds. And a hundred and fifty kilowatts is real weapons-grade, compared to existing solid state lasers which still zap in the tens of kilowatts.