Patent ID: 8269957

Claim:
A laser based system for protecting a platform against an armament equipped with an optical homing head element, that comprises— a command and control assembly equipped with an interface to a detection and acquisition system that detects and locates a threatening armament and receives from it a warning about said detection of said threatening armament combined with data relating to it; and a laser source operable by said command and control assembly in order to produce the required energy for jamming said optical head of said threatening armament; and wherein said system is characterized by that it comprises in addition— a sectarian array of a plurality of end units that are connected unto said laser source for selectively routing laser energy from said source to an end unit that was selected by said command and control assembly as the end unit that is best suited under prevailing conditions for pointing at said threatening armament and attacking it by emitting a laser beam in its direction, wherein each of said end units comprises a beam director module capable of aiming said laser beam towards said threatening armament and receiving optic reflections from it and an optoelectronic module that is connected to said beam director module and comprises a first sensor means covering a sector at which said threatening armament is anticipated, and second sensor means for sensing said returning optical reflections from said threatening armament as they are received after illuminating it by said laser beam, wherein said command and control assembly enables to rout said laser energy from said laser source to several of said end units in series, in accordance with the variations of said threatening armament's location in relation to said sectarian array of said end units, in a manner that enables to form a continuum of instances of aiming at said threatening armament and launching a volley of laser beams illuminating said threatening armament in series from said plurality of end units one after another, and wherein said command and control assembly enables continuous handling of a plurality of threatening armaments by selectively routing energy from said laser source to an end unit that was selected by said command and control assembly as the most suitable under the prevailing conditions, to be the end unit pointing at and illuminating one of said threatening armaments that endangers said platform at that specific instant, with said laser beam.