UK Military to Trial Lasers in ‘Novel Weapons Programme’

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth passes the Round Tower as it leaves Portsmouth Naval Base in Hampshire for exercises off Scotland before heading to the Indo-Pacific region, on May 1, 2021. PA

Britain’s armed forces will trial laser and radio frequency weapons as part of a “Novel Weapons Programme,” the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said on Tuesday.

The MOD said it had awarded three contracts worth around £72.5 million ($100 million) to UK industry to produce advanced laser and radio frequency demonstrators as part of its “Novel Weapons Programme.”