The U.S. Air Force deploys compact laser weapon systems against small unmanned aerial vehicles in Europe and Africa

  [According to a July 23 report by Unmanned Airspace website] The U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa has recently completed the operational deployment of a new Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS), which has officially entered service at multiple overseas bases. Its core equipment comprises the Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS) and the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. The CLWS relies on high-energy beams to precisely disable low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles, and can connect to base air defense networks and support manual visual target identification to avoid misidentifying friendly aircraft or birds. The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System employs laser-guided 2.75-inch rockets, capable of effectively intercepting threatening targets within a 6-kilometer range and delivering composite strike capacity combining soft kill and hard kill. After threat detection, the system automatically activates electronic jamming, directed energy and kinetic interception modules to enable closed-loop response covering the entire process from detection to neutralization.
  The U.S. Air Force stated that this upgrade is based on findings from previous operational effectiveness assessments of key site defense, and forms part of the overall plan to expand and continuously optimize the air defense system. It aims to build a more highly integrated and adaptable defense framework for U.S. troops stationed in Europe and Africa. Relevant measures comply with U.S. Department of Defense directives and the U.S. Air Force’s special initiative to enhance counter-unmanned aircraft capabilities. Fully taking practical factors of overseas deployment into account, these measures place emphasis on matching the law enforcement capacity of host nations and bilateral coordination mechanisms.