L3 Micreo has announced it has secured $1 million in funding from the government’s Next Generation Technologies Fund to research its scalable High-Energy Laser Array (HELA) as part of the Fund’s Counter Improvised Threats Grand Challenge.

The HELA technology that will be developed from the funding is capable of permanently neutralising an improvised threat at standoff distances, and will also be effective against manned and unmanned platforms.

Last December a media release by Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne announced that, “Over 200 submissions were received and 40 proposals were shortlisted before the final winners were selected. Thirteen high-quality proposals from universities, industry and small business across five Australian states have been selected to develop technology solutions to combat growing threats to our nation’s security.”

L3 Micreo General Manager Sarah Earey said, “This is an innovative proposal for a complex problem. The funding provides us the opportunity to develop next-generation capabilities to address the ever-growing incidence of improvised threats to Defence personnel and the public.”

The 18-month project will focus on the design and demonstration of a concept system with a view to progressing the design to high-technology readiness levels.