DRDO's DURGA-II laser weapon breaks cover !! Will be used from Land, Naval and Air platforms ??

SOURCE : The Week

Image courtesy : Lockheed Martin

Work done by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has frequently been criticized or applauded, concerning a bunch of indigenous defence projects. These are namely the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, the Arjun tank and the ballistic missiles like the Agni series etc. Less notable has been the DRDO's work on some fronts and the advances and weapons made in those attempts, which are yet to enter broad operational service around the world. 

One such zone is the field of DEW or Directed Energy Weapons. In a simple word, Directed Energy Weapons destroys its targets by utilizing focussed energy with lasers, microwaves, or molecule radiations. 

As indicated by the US think tank, Lexington Institute, "Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) have a few benefits over ordinary weapons. In the first place, they throw a dangerous beam at the speed of light (around 300,000 kilometers each second). Second, these beams are not influenced by the impacts of gravity or environmental drag. Third, they are very exact. Fourth, their capacity can be modified as per the intensity of the target, by increasing their power." 

DEW as of now is in assistance of 'drone guard' frameworks. In such frameworks, laser beams are utilized to take out flying unmanned aerial vehicles, which are turning into a vital piece of the military stockpile of most countries. However, their latent capacity is beyond only targeting the enemy objects, they have the option to both obliterate adversary targets and protect your own vital assets from air and missile assault. 

Recently, US defence website Defense News investigated the situation with hypersonic weapons and DEW programs around the world. Defence News announced that the DRDO has been looking for a grant of $100 million from the Govt, to build up a powerful laser weapon. 

"The top secret project, named DURGA II (Directionally Unrestricted Ray-Gun Array), will see the Indian Army get the 100-kilowatt, lightweight directed energy framework, an official disclosed to Defense News. A senior DRDO researcher said on condition of anonymity that the DURGA II program is as of now in the planning and concept stage. He added that the DRDO is improving different laser generation techs utilizing solid state, fiber and chemical lasers for both attacking role and defensive role. 

The researcher additionally said DURGA II is to be incorporated with land-, ocean and air-based platfroms," Defense News announced. 

Strangely, the presence of a DURGA project has been accounted for around twenty years currently, tracing all the way back to the mid 2000s. An examination by Indian Air Force official K.K. Nair distributed by the United Service Institution of India (USI) in 2008 alluded to the Directionally Unrestricted Ray-Gun Array (DURGA), and noted there was little advancement in the undertaking. 

In 2017, DRDO has tested a 1KW laser weapon mounted on a truck at a test office in Chitradurga. The Economic Times detailed the laser hit an objective 250m away. The laser test was led within the sight of then Defence Minister Late Arun Jaitley. 

Challenging for development 

High-power laser weapons are hard to create, a prominent issue being arrangement of satisfactory power for the system. The Economic Times featured difficulties including "building up of a cooling instrument for the framework that warms up when the laser beam is thrown out, guaranteeing an engaged bar towards a distant object and optoelectronics, or optronics, including focal points to make that center… " 

Lockheed Martin HELIOS 

In January, US aviation monster Lockheed Martin conveyed the principal unit of its High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) laser framework to the US Navy. The HELIOS has power in an abundance of 60KW and is utilized fundamentally to harm more modest surface ships and robots. Notwithstanding, as indicated by reports, moves up to HELIOS with expanded force would empower the framework to target against transport rockets terminated at ships.