UK to award contract for testing laser weapon

The UK is closer to laser directed weapons, after it was announced that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is due to select a contractor to build a technology demonstrator to validate the system next month.

Andy Rhodes at Raytheon UK, one of the companies competing for the deal, has said that the decision could be made as early as 3 June.

Such a move could see Britain join the laser arms race, following the deployment of a laser to the Gulf on one of the US warships.

At London’s DSEI exhibition last year, former First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir George Zambellas claimed that Britain will test a prototype laser cannon on its warships by the end of the decade.