Following 100% successful live-fire trials, RAF pilots are a step closer to being equipped with a cutting-edge laser self-protection system.

The laser is being designed to be fitted to a range of RAF aircraft including the intelligence gather Shadow R2 and A400M transporter, ready to rapidly detect and defeat threats such as missiles.

During the trial at the Vidsel Test Range in Sweden, the operation system defeated a range of infrared heat-seeking missiles being fired simultaneously.

100% of threats were quickly defeated using a laser with pinpoint accuracy which has been designed and developed by the Team Pellonia partnership between Leonardo UK, Thales UK, and the MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

“Identifying, tracking and defeating threats from the air in seconds is crucial to having the edge over those who try to do us harm,” defence secretary John Healey said.

“We’re equipping our Armed Forces with the very latest technology to keep them safe and give them the advantage on operations.

“This high-tech laser is another excellent example of joint working between our Dstl experts and the UK’s defence industry.”

The system works by Thale’s Elix-IR threat warning system quickly detecting and identifying the launch of missiles, using a series of algorithms to filter out background clutter so that only valid threats are tracked, classified, and declared.

Once the threats have been classified, an alert is sent to the Leonardo’s Miysis directed infrared countermeasure, which moves to track the incoming missile and precisely directs a jamming laser onto the missile.

Threats are defeated in a matter of seconds, the UK Government claims, giving the MOD the latest generation in protection with full operation independence, which will be offered to its export customers, which includes the Israeli military.

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“The UK defensive aids system is the culmination of MOD’s detailed understanding of changing threats alongside years of sustained defence investment in science and technology nurtured within Dstl,” the department of science and technology lab (Dstl) chief for air survivability, Mark Elson, said.

“This has been aligned with the development capabilities of our commercial partners through Team Pellonia.

“The design of the system has the agility to protect platforms now and into the future, providing long-term operational advantage to the UK and our allies. This is enabled through Spiral Development which provides capabilities such as the Dstl developed jamming waveform that defeats the guidance of the missile threat.

The project sustained 700 jobs at Thales in Glasgow – which made a deal with Israel’s intillegince and military company Elbiet, and 1,250 specialist roles at Leonardo in Edinburgh, which is consistently targeted by protestors over its extensive set of contracts with the Israeli military.