DÉFENSE ZONE
On 8 June, the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) awarded the L2AD (counter-drone laser) contract to CILAS. The delivery of a first operational prototype laser system will be the first building block of this project. Derived from the HELMA-P demonstrator, successfully evaluated last year, this prototype will have to prove itself at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It will be deployed there to identify, track and neutralise any unidentified mini and micro drones.
This €10 million contract falls within the framework of the 2019–2025 Military Programming Law (LPM), which makes counter-drone defence one of the priorities of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. The aim: “to counter enemy drones, in particular in order to strengthen the protection of sensitive military sites and operators of vital importance”, the DGA states in its press release.
In addition to installing a prototype at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the L2AD contract also provides for the installation of a laser system on a naval platform. The first tests are scheduled for this year.
The HELMA-P system
This laser weapon is already capable of dazzling observation instruments or destroying a drone weighing from 100 g to 25 kg with extreme precision. However, this must be done under optimal safety conditions, “by putting in place a set of hardware and software safeguards and by refining the concept of use with the armed forces”.
