1st Prototype Laser-Equipped Stryker Platoon Set to Arrive Next Month

The Army is fielding its first platoon of prototype laser-armed armored vehicles, reports Task & Purpose.

In January, four Directed Energy Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) Stryker vehicles equipped with 50-kW Guardian laser weapons are slated to arrive at Fort Sill, Okla., said a spokesman for the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO).

The weapon’s “critical subsystems and other components” had “successfully demonstrated a high degree of technical readiness against threat sets” during testing at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in March, the spokesman said.

The RCCTO had "initiated the prototype New Equipment Training (pNET) and New Equipment Fielding (pNEF) for the first DE M-SHORAD prototype platoon," the spokesman said.

Officials said that the office had decided to extend the development phase for a few extra months to ensure the operational system could be produced and fielded at scale.