Airborne L@ser takes another step....

[Yeoman_dai]

Defense Tech: ABL Dings Missile With Low-Power Beam (http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004979.html#comments)

comments? Whats the betting that it'll be killed off soon enough?


Also interesting as it links to the article about the slight possibility that the FAA/RAF will be getting the F35C - which has space built into its deign for a future integration of a smaller version of the ABL - any thought from the learned ladies and gentlemen out there about the likelihood of this?

In my un-learned opinion, not within my lifetime...

[safetypee]

Military mega-l@sers are too hot to handle - tech - 10 July 2009 - New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327166.000-military-megalasers-are-too-hot-to-handle.html)
“…. problems have begun to stall the development of laser weapons. Earlier this year in the US, engineers halted tests of the $4.3 billion megawatt-class Airborne L@ser short of full power to avoid damaging "a handful of optics in the turret", according to Mike Rinn, a Boeing vice-president who manages the programme. They realised that the optics, designed years ago, would be "frail" in the presence of any contamination, which would be virtually inevitable in flight. In the next week or so, Boeing engineers will install replacement optics and test them on the ground before running the laser at full power in flight.
Finding a way of preventing l@ser weapons from frying themselves is proving just as troublesome. Depending on the type of laser, generating 1 watt of l@ser beam produces about 4 watts of waste heat that must be dissipated. The challenge is to develop a cooling system that is both small and extremely robust.”

[Two's in]

Well as a technology it's been fairly successful, but hugely expensive. The original objective was to be able to take sub-orbital missiles out and it's taken a long time to get anywhere close to that.

As for putting it into an F-35, I suspect you and I will be long dead before you see the technology miniaturized enough for that. The reason ABL is in a 747 is because it's basically a flying chemical factory. You need some scary $hit bubbling away in the back end with the appropriate voltages to fire it all up before you can go zapping anything. They have got a smaller version flying in a C-130 now, but it's a still a long way from dropping onto a pod on a fighter.

Fascinating stuff, but like Dai says, you have to wonder if it will survive in the current financial climate.

[CirrusF]

In my un-learned opinion, not within my lifetime...


You're a quick learner...

These ridiculous and useless weapon systems are the product of excessive linkage between military and defence industry - "We'll invent a threat, so that you can invent the solution".

If you can still find it, read Robert Gates's excellent recent speech on US defence procurement - where he spells out fairly brutally that the "you scratch my back, I scratch your back" relationship needs to be broken up to stop the US/UK inventing new wars to start in order to justify the spending...

[Jumping_Jack]

Why do people keep spelling it L@SER? :confused:

[GPMG]

Because they cannot breed enough angry Sea Bass.

[The Old Fat One]

These ridiculous and useless weapon systems are the product of excessive linkage between military and defence industry - "We'll invent a threat, so that you can invent the solution".

It's called the Military Industrial Complex, brought to the public's attention by Eisenhower and existing since the days of Samuel Colt.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Why do people keep spelling it L@SER?

They are not necessarily doing that. A filter is applied to change the 'a' to '@' to avoid the word appearing correctly, which prevents unauthorised ads appearing for l@ser products - or should do.

[ORAC]

Military high energy lāser weapon for attack aircraft test fired over New Mexico desert (http://mae.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=EXECW&PUBLICATION_ID=32&ARTICLE_ID=364652&C=EXECW&dcmp=rss) - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., 16 June 2009.

http://images.pennnet.com/articles/mae/cap/cap_320907.jpg

The U.S. Air Force Advanced Tactical Lāser (ATL) system -- a high power lāser weapon mounted to a C-130 turboprop aircraft -- took another step toward deployment this week when engineers from the Boeing Co. test fired the ATL for the first time in flight.

The Boeing ATL military lāser aircraft took off from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and fired its lāser weapon while flying over White Sands Missile Range, N.M., hitting a target on the ground.

ATL, which Boeing is developing for the U.S. Air Force, is a C-130H aircraft equipped with a chemical high energy lāser, a beam control system, sensors, and weapon-system consoles. The ATL program supports special operations missions using a tactical high energy lāser system for effects-based engagements against ground targets.

"This test is a major step toward bringing directed energy capability to the warfighter," says Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "We have demonstrated that an airborne system can fire a high-power lāser in flight and deliver lāser beam energy to a ground target."

The ATL system is designed to destroy, damage, or disable targets with little to no collateral damage on the battlefield and in urban operations.

The Boeing-led ATL industry team includes L-3 Communications/Brashear, which built the laser turret; HYTEC Inc., which made a variety of the weapon system's structural elements; and J.B. Henderson, which provides mechanical integration support.

Advanced Tactical Lāser (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/systems/atl.htm)

Northrop Grumman's electric lāser (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/356645)