Melbourne-based technology company AIM Defence have been contracted by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to build a deployable Directed Energy (DE) system for ongoing counter-drone testing and evaluation. The $4.9 million contract represents the first time the ADF has acquired a directed energy prototype for ongoing field-based counter-drone trials. AIM Defence states that their Fractl:2 DE system is powerful enough to burn through steel, and precise enough to track and shoot down a drone travelling at 100km/hour from kilometres away. It is also portable and battery powered. The Fractl:2 relies on AIM Defence’s enhanced eye safety tactical DE laser, which limits the blinding risk associated with typical one-micron systems, making it safer in the field than comparable High Power Laser (HPL) systems. AIM Defence expects Fractl:2 to be in the hands of ADF operators by mid-2024.
“We have successfully demonstrated over 200 drone defeats both indoors and outdoors over the last two years, each time improving the Fractl capabilities and learning how to safely deploy directed energy. By having this focus we’ve been able to engineer our 1-micron Fractl:1 system to be orders of magnitude safer than other DE systems. The evolution of Fractl to the Fractl:2 variant reduces the collateral hazard again, by a factor of 100. This makes it the safest and most deployable High Power Laser system in the world, by quite a margin,” said AIM Defence co-founder Dr Jae Daniel.
“Countering drones and other autonomous weapons systems has emerged as one of the most critically needed capabilities for militaries worldwide. For the past four years AIM Defence has been working with Australia’s defence innovation ecosystem to build a cost-effective, high-precision and deployable directed energy system. Fractl:2 is the culmination of that effort,” said AIM Defence co-founder Jessica Glenn.
Australia’s leading high-power laser systems developer, AIM Defence (AIM) builds ultra-compact high-power laser systems with the most advanced AI tracking in the world. The company are a leading Australian company with world class in-house capability, significantly reducing the cost and size of laser technology. AIM is dedicated to researching and developing directed energy and artificial intelligence systems to protect Australia and its allies. AIM Defence designs, builds, tests and manufactures high-powered laser solutions that are affordable, mobile, and the most capable in the world.
