Rheinmetall, MBDA building high-energy lasers for Germany’s Navy

STUTTGART, Germany — Rheinmetall and MBDA Deutschland have been tasked to build, test and field a high-energy laser weapon system for the German Navy over the next year.

The consortium, dubbed ARGE, was awarded a contract “in the low double-digit million euro range” by Germany’s military procurement office, the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support. Work will be conducted through the end of 2021, with trials scheduled for 2022 aboard the Navy frigate Sachsen, per a joint announcement released Thursday.

The work is to be split on a “roughly equal basis,” the companies said. Rheinmetall will be responsible for the laser weapon system, the beam-guiding system, cooling and integrating the weapon system with the overall laser source demonstrator. MBDA will focus on the operator console along with tracking technology and command-and-control system integration.

Details have yet to be revealed about where the system’s development will take place.

This latest contract continues the companies’ collaboration on high-energy laser efforts, which was first announced in August 2019. Rheinmetall and the Germany military have been testing high-energy laser technologies in the maritime domain since 2015, a company spokesman told Defense News.

“The contract marks a systematic extension of the functional prototype laser weapon successfully tested in recent years, with the experience gained now dovetailing into one of the most ambitious projects in the field of laser weapon development in Europe,” according to Alexander Graf, head of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition’s laser weapons program, and Markus Jung, who leads the company’s laser weapon development segment.

Once the demonstrator is installed, it will be used to test other aspects of the laser weapon system, such as the sensor suite and combat management system, and evaluate rules of engagement, said Doris Laarmann, MBDA’s head of laser business development.

The German arm of MBDA announced a restructuring of operations in late 2020 following mixed signals from Berlin regarding the status of the Tactical Air Defense System program, also known as TLVS. Executives have expressed skepticism that a contract award would emerge soon for the follow-on work of the former Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS.

In 2015, the German government announced it would use MEADS as the basis for TLVS, which would eventually replace the nation’s 1980s-era Patriot air defense systems.

Vivienne Machi is a reporter based in Stuttgart, Germany, contributing to Defense News' European coverage. She previously reported for National Defense Magazine, Defense Daily, Via Satellite, Foreign Policy and the Dayton Daily News. She was named the Defence Media Awards' best young defense journalist in 2020.

德国斯图加特——莱茵金属公司和MBDA德国公司受命在未来一年内为德国海军建造、测试和部署高能激光武器系统。

这家名为ARGE的联合体获得了德国联邦国防军装备、信息技术和在役支持办公室（联邦国防军装备、信息技术和在役支持办公室）授予的一份“数千万欧元”的合同。根据周四发布的联合声明，该项目将持续到2021年底，并计划于2022年在海军护卫舰“萨克森”号上进行试验。

两家公司表示，工作将“大致平均分配”。莱茵金属公司将负责激光武器系统、光束引导系统、冷却系统以及将武器系统与整体激光源演示器集成。MBDA公司将专注于操作员控制台、跟踪技术以及指挥控制系统的集成。

目前尚未公布该系统将在何处进行开发的具体细节。

这份最新合同延续了两家公司在高能激光领域的合作，该合作最早于 2019 年 8 月宣布。莱茵金属公司的一位发言人告诉《防务新闻》，自 2015 年以来，莱茵金属公司和德国军方一直在海事领域测试高能激光技术。

莱茵金属武器弹药公司激光武器项目负责人亚历山大·格拉夫和该公司激光武器开发部门负责人马库斯·荣格表示：“该合同标志着近年来成功测试的功能原型激光武器的系统性扩展，所获得的经验现在与欧洲激光武器开发领域最雄心勃勃的项目之一完美契合。”

MBDA激光业务发展主管多丽丝·拉尔曼表示，演示装置安装完毕后，将用于测试激光武器系统的其他方面，例如传感器套件和作战管理系统，并评估交战规则。

由于柏林方面就战术防空系统（TLVS）项目的状态发出了模棱两可的信号，MBDA德国分公司于2020年底宣布进行业务重组。高管们对能否很快获得后续项目（即前身为中程增程防空系统（MEADS）的项目）的合同表示怀疑。

2015 年，德国政府宣布将以 MEADS 为基础开发 TLVS，TLVS 最终将取代该国 20 世纪 80 年代的“爱国者”防空系统。

薇薇安·马奇是驻德国斯图加特的一名记者，主要负责《防务新闻》的欧洲报道。她此前曾为《国家防务杂志》、《防务日报》、《卫星通讯》、《外交政策》和《代顿每日新闻》撰稿。2020年，她荣获防务媒体奖最佳青年防务记者称号。