DARPA Awards High-Energy Liquid Laser Contract

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Incorporated, Poway, California, is being awarded nearly $40 million for the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System program, a 150-kilowatt laser designed for flight traceable performance, ready to integrate into a field test system for ground demonstration. The system will include battery and thermal management systems to support representative airborne, seaborne, and ground-based scenarios, which present multiple target prosecutions in sequence. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is the contracting activity.