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Yes—Boeing reported that its 10-kilowatt High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) engaged aerial targets during demonstrations it described as windy, rainy and foggy. The tests took place at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Boeing said the system engaged more than 150 targets across two demonstration series, but its 2014 announcement was a company report, not an independent evaluation or proof that laser weapons work in all weather.

What Boeing reported about the HEL MD demonstration

In a release dated September 4, 2014, Boeing said it and the U.S. Army demonstrated HEL MD at Eglin Air Force Base. The system combined a 10-kilowatt high-energy laser with an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle. Boeing described the conditions as windy, rainy and foggy and said the engagements were its most challenging to date with a 10-kilowatt laser on HEL MD.

According to Boeing’s September 4, 2014 announcement, the demonstrator engaged more than 150 aerial targets across two demonstration series. The company named 60 mm mortars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) among the targets, but did not give a count for each type.

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What “rain, fog and wind” establishes—and what it doesn’t

The announcement supports a specific, limited conclusion: Boeing said HEL MD engaged targets in demonstrations conducted in weather it characterized as windy, rainy and foggy. It does not quantify rainfall, visibility, fog density or wind speed. Without those measurements, the weather description cannot show how the system would perform in a particular storm or in every kind of poor weather.

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The reported engagement total is also Boeing’s figure. The release does not provide an independent test assessment, detailed methodology, per-target results or failure rates. Boeing executive Dave DeYoung called the engagements “the most challenging to date with a 10-kilowatt laser on HEL MD”; that is the company representative’s characterization, not an independent measure of the trial’s severity or success.

Which laser power was tested?

The reported weather demonstrations used a 10-kilowatt laser. Boeing described installing a 50- or 60-kilowatt laser as a planned next step, intended to demonstrate counter-RAM (counter-rocket, artillery and mortar) and UAV capability at that power. The announcement does not establish whether or when that follow-on demonstration took place, so those higher power levels should not be attributed to the weather trial.

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Was HEL MD an operational weapon?

The release describes a demonstrator and its test engagements; it does not establish that HEL MD was fielded as an operational weapon or document its status after 2014. The reported result is evidence about one named system and a particular set of demonstrations—not a general guarantee of laser performance in adverse weather.

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