The 50kW HEL weapon technology demonstrator consisted of two functional
models. One was a 30kW weapon station integrated into an Oerlikon revolver
gun air defense turret. It was connected to an Oerlikon Skyguard fire
control unit. The second one was a 20kW weapon station integrated into a
first generation revolver gun turret. The test was also designed to prove
that separate HEL weapon stations, using Rheinmetall’s existing beam
superimposing technology, could irradiate a single target in a
superimposed, cumulative way.
The weapons were able to cut through a 15mm thick steel girder at a
distance of 1,000 meters; shoot down several nose-diving target drones
traveling at 50 meters per second at a range of two kilometers; and shoot
down an 82mm-diameter steel ball traveling at the same speed.