On August 29, the company CILAS, member of the consortium Talos, announced work on high-power lasers will be carried out by several European stakeholders. Sixteen European structures representing nine states are involved in the program such as industrialists and laboratories of research and universities. Among partners are present: Airbus, MBDA, ArianeGroup, Leonardo or the ONERA. The activities of some these partners in the arm system field will be useful to set up a solution interoperable with the existing technologies.

“CILAS consortium’s project, called Talos (Tactical Advanced Laser Optical System) aims to create European capabilities in laser technologies, for the purpose of a development program of a laser effector for defense applications by 2025”, describe CILAS. A demonstrator should be ready in 3 years as well as roadmap enabling new developments in the defense field. “The solution can be integrated on different platforms (maritime, land and air payloads)”, specifies the industrialist.

The U.S. are already carrying out several programs and developing technologies including laser weapons. High-power lasers enable to face small-sized threatens limiting collateral damages. They are particularly useful for anti-drone fight or to neutralize objects such as RAM (rockets, artillery, mortars).