Rheinmetall-MBDA high-energy laser weapon for German Navy

Rheinmetall and MBDA are developing an operational shipborne high-energy laser weapon for the German Navy, building on a containerized demonstrator tested on frigate Sachsen with 1,000+ shots across air/sea/land targets. The system is intended to improve close-in defense, especially against drones, and indicates maturation of directed-energy naval air defense toward fielding by 2029.