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CLICK TO ENLARGE +PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS DIVISION OF THE BOEING COMPANY

LASER AVENGER

Boeing’s Laser Avenger, an in-house technology project that mounts an energy-efficient, though relatively low-power, fiber laser weapon and targeting system on a Humvee, has been demonstrated to be effective against visible ground targets such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance (UXOs), and has also tracked three small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) before shooting one down. If engineers can develop much higher-power fiber lasers, a big if, the technology may end up on future ground and airborne combat vehicles.

CLICK TO ENLARGE +PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS DIVISION OF THE BOEING COMPANY

BALLISTIC MISSILE INTERCEPTOR

The U.S. Air Force’s YAL-1A, a modified Boeing 747-400F airliner known as the Airborne Laser (ABL) testbed, has successfully intercepted a boost-phase ballistic missile in-flight by firing its high-energy, 1-megawatt (MW) chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) at it. Although chemical lasers are powerful, they have fallen out of favor of Pentagon planners because they remain energy-inefficient and require the safe handling of potentially dangerous chemical reactants in the field.

CLICK TO ENLARGE +PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS DIVISION OF THE BOEING COMPANY

ADVANCED TACTICAL LASER

A specially modified C-130H aircraft equipped with Boeing’s Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) weapon system fired its 100-kilowatt (kW) COIL laser and hit a ground target while flying over White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Future similar airborne beam weapons may be able to damage, disable or destroy targets with little or no collateral damage to non-combatants and their property.

CLICK TO ENLARGE +PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHROP GRUMMAN AEROSPACE SYSTEMS

SOLID-STATE WEAPON

A view of Northrop Grumman’s laboratory test rig, which a few years ago first demonstrated that solid-state, or electric, lasers could produce a high-quality, 100-kilowatt beam, a so-called entry-level, or minimum weapons-grade, power capability--enough to destroy a moving target from a kilometer or two away. Other contractors such as Textron Defense have also developed their own weapons-grade laser technology.

CLICK TO ENLARGE +ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF THE TEXTRON DEFENSE DIVISION OF TEXTRON SYSTEMS CORPORATION

THIN-ZAG

Researchers at Textron Defense have developed a high-powered solid-state, or slab, laser based on what they call their Thin-Zag design. After semiconductor diodes pump photons into the walls of slender ceramic slabs located at the center of the device, a powerful, high-quality beam forms in the special zigzag-shaped lasing cavity that they form.

CLICK TO ENLARGE +COURTESY OF LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

FREE ELECTRON LASER

The U.S. Navy is supporting research on free-electron lasers (FELs) that can produce more than a single wavelength of laser energy, which may help naval beam weapons better penetrate sea haze. FELs rely on a wiggler or undulator, an array of magnets with alternating poles that causes an electron beam to oscillate and so emit a certain wavelength of laser light. Changing the field alters the wavelength.

CLICK TO ENLARGE +PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY'S DIRECTED ENERGY DIRECTORATE

REAL RAY GUN

This vision of a ray gun or blaster straight from sci-fi fantasy is not exactly what it first seems. U.S. Air Force Capt. Drew Goettler demonstrates the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response, or PHaSR, a non-lethal laser weapon. The PHaSR was developed by the ScorpWorks team at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, N.M., to help protect troops and control hostile crowds by using low-power laser light to dazzle the eyes of potential assailants.

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Veterans for Academic Freedom

How long till the Administration sells the plans to China for campaign contributions????? s/

Always wanted an optic that could burn a tunnel through the target, so the bullet could pass through unimpeded & untouched. Seems like an exceptionally elegant approach...

;>)

A pair of Foster Grants would get the user of that weapon a severe arse whuppin’!

LLS

When Barrett comes out with one... or Kimber... let me know.

LLS

Once this stuff is operational, 90% of the military gear in the world, including most of our own stuff will be obsolete.

The Achilles heel of such weapons are obscurants, such as smoke. They turn a laser beam into an expensive flashlight.

Most modern armies have an impressive obscurant capability, but the US military dislikes obscurants at the same time, because they are inexpensive, low technology, and remove clarity from the battlefield. A few smudge pots can neutralize billions of dollars worth of intelligence gathering equipment.

Unfortunately, because of this, training with obscurants is minimal. And when they are used, battlefield skills like maneuver, ambush, and infiltration are maximized. And this can unnerve even the most disciplined military unit.

This limits the practical use of laser weapons in the future, and they must always be covered by projectile weapons capable of maintaining the whole battle by themselves.