LANCE SYSTEM

1. About

• The LANCE acronym stands for “Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments.”
• “It is the smallest, lightest, high energy laser of its power class that Lockheed Martin has built to date,” 
• “It is a critical benchmark in developing an operational laser weapon system in the airborne domain.”
• "Lockheed Martin continues to rapidly advance laser weapon systems and the technologies that make them possible  to use directed energy to counter threats from the ground, and look forward to future tests from the air as part of the SHiELD system."
• LANCE is designed to operate in a compact environment, and as such, the Lockheed Martin team focused on developing a compact, high-efficiency laser within challenging size, weight and power constraints.
• The company stated that LANCE represents a critical component in developing airborne laser weapon systems.

2.SHiELD program

The SHiELD program includes three subsystems:

• SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects (STRAFE), the beam control system, which will direct the laser onto the target
• Laser Pod Research & Development (LPRD), the pod mounted on the tactical fighter jet, which will power and cool the laser
• Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE), the high-energy laser itself, which can be trained on adversary targets to disable them

3. Significance of LANCER SYSTEM

• The development is significant as it is an acknowledgement that efforts to reduce the size of the laser energy weapon have been successful, and it is now ready to be tested after being mounted on an aircraft.
• The fact that the size of the energy weapon has been reduced to that of a pod which can be mounted on a fighter aircraft, or any aircraft for that matter, is an important development.
• This laser weapon will give the USAF the capability of shooting down incoming anti-aircraft missiles, thus giving it a crucial edge over its adversaries especially a peanut size counter to S-400

4. The laser Technology of other countries

• While LANCE has been reduced in size for operational use on aircraft, the system
• It can be put to use on a variety of platforms on land and at sea.
• Apart from the US, several other countries have robust laser energy weapon development programmes. This includes China, Russia, Israel, Germany, France and India.
• Israel recently tested its laser weapon to shoot down a drone from the ground.
• Russia, meanwhile, said it had tested a laser weapon — Zadira — in Ukraine recently, a claim dismissed by western powers.
• India, too, is developing a directed energy weapon named DURGA II, which stands for Directed Unrestricted Ray-Gun Array. It is said to be a light energy weapon of 100-kilowatt capacity.

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