WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2022) Northrop Grumman has completed the preliminary design review (PDM) for a 300-kilowatt high energy laser prototype, the company announced in a press release on Monday.
"Northrop Grumman Corporation recently completed the preliminary design review for a high-energy laser prototype that will feature an architecture scalable to more than a megawatt for the US Department of Defense," the release said.
The review confirmed Northrop Grumman's technical approach for manufacturing precise, low-cost, speed-of-light technology suitable for use in military operations, the release said.
"This is an important step in the ability to combine high-power laser beams into a single beam that can be scaled for maximum power," Northrop Grumman Vice President and General Manager for Strategic Space Systems Robert Fleming said in the release.
In March 2021, the Defense Department gave the company a $72 million contract under the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative to demonstrate a high-energy laser prototype using Northrop Grumman's coherent beam combining technology, the release said.
Northrop Grumman plans to test the prototype at progressively higher powers later in 2022, the release added.
