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The U.S. Air Force will this summer begin testing a laser that will be mounted on an F-15 warplane, an official said Monday.
The Pentagon last year awarded a $26 million contract to Lockheed Martin for a laser program called SHiELD (Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator).
The idea is to put a laser system on aircraft with an output of about 50 kw to test their ability to zap drones or cruise missiles.
“We have got tests starting this summer and the flight tests next summer,” Jeff Stanley, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology and engineering, told reporters.
“There are still some technical challenges that we have to overcome, mainly size, weight, power.”
The US Air Force (USAF) continues to struggle with stabilising lasers on its airborne platforms, according to a key service official.
Tony Hostutler, technical advisor at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for laser technologies, told reporters on 19 March at the Pentagon that the aero-optics effects of air moving over the turret of airborne laser weapons has traditionally been a challenge. Hostutler said the USAF is working to further mitigate this jitter as the service matures directed energy, or laser, weapons to make them smaller and better.
What color are they?
Burn a hole in the engine, tail or hull.
originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: burgerbuddy
What color are they?
Mid IR, most likely.
Burn a hole in the engine, tail or hull.
The SHiELD laser is at least 5 times more powerful than those.
originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: anzha
Very cool. How does weather, like rain etc...effect performance? Any insight there? Are counter measures using refraction even viable? Totally ignorant on the topic, off to read your links.
originally posted by: burgerbuddy
originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: anzha
I knew it was gonna be a damn acronym.
I want a shield laser, though I don't know what good I would get out of it, but I still want it.
An array of lasers encompassing an area that fries anything in front or around a vehicle would be a good thing.
originally posted by: Vector99
originally posted by: burgerbuddy
originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: anzha
I knew it was gonna be a damn acronym.
I want a shield laser, though I don't know what good I would get out of it, but I still want it.
An array of lasers encompassing an area that fries anything in front or around a vehicle would be a good thing.
Unless your in reverse!
originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: BlueJacket
Weather affects performance, of course. There are frequencies that pass through water better than average: blue-green lasers, frex. However, water will still absorb light even at the so-called right frequencies.
As noted, the shady looking (jking!) burgerbuddy noted, you need perfect reflection at the exact right frequency for the laser to be mitigated. The problem is getting the reflection right and keeping your mirrored surface perfect. Imperfections are the way to getting fried. Dust alone appears to be good enough to ruin a reflector. Good luck keeping that off your equipment on a battlefield!
Oh and burgerbuddy, c >>> Mach 5.
originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: burgerbuddy
The dust provides for heat build up in particular spots. That warps and damages the underlying material. That makes it less perfect. And then....boom. big boom. They tested a spinning mirrored surface with MIRACL, the mid infrared advanced chemical laser. Sliced right through it.
As for the rest, the closest thing to an anti grav drive I've heard of would be dark energy and the Alcubierre drive. One's unexplained as yet (but seems to have anti gravity as part of it) and the other is theoretical.
As a GP hull is transparent, most humans paint some or all of the hull to provide some privacy and to prevent problems associated with FTL travel through hyperspace and exposure to the "blind spot". To provide further protection, the hulls are normally lined with 'flare shielding', which instantly becomes reflective to any of the transmitted visible light wavelengths should the intensity rise above a certain threshold. Furthermore, since the Puppeteers are careful to an extreme degree to avoid any risk at all, they don't trust even these hulls completely. They have therefore installed in at least two (and possibly all) of their ships a Slaver Stasis field, which stops time inside the hull instantly should anything bad happen, and keeps it stopped until the bad thing goes away. In the absence of time, nothing can possibly affect the contents of the Stasis field until it turns itself off. Indeed, Louis Wu speculates that a ship with its Stasis field on would be able to handily survive a second big bang (though several stories cast doubt on this).
originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: burgerbuddy
Two Niven references in a night. Something is afoot.
originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: Vector99
The Alcubierre drive requires negative matter: not antimatter, but negative matter. Negative matter and negative energy are theoretical at this point.