Airborne laser

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The maiden flight of an aircraft that officials hope will one day be able to shoot down U.S.-bound missiles took place Thursday over western Kansas, the Air Force said Friday.

www.cnn.com...
www.airbornelaser.com...

It seems the laser aint attached yet, but this project seems to be coming along rather nicely. Anyone else still find this a little crazy futuristic?

Previous post on this topic.

xmb.abovetopsecret.com...

Aha, thought there was one, couldnt see in Aircraft, didnt think to look in sci/tech


Anyhoo, isn't it nice to live in the future. Although I'm still waiting for my rocket pack

Yeh

Between airbourne weapons, and the new sonic crowd control weapons, it won't be safe to leave your home soon.

Nice pic:

were the tests sucessful

ya know there was a story on CNN.com's "sci-tech" section last week about a "humvee" (spelling?) that was equipped with a laser to scan for landmines. Then once the landmine is found the main laser kicks in and disintegrates the landmine!! The range was about three football fields according to the article.
Surely they have this thing operational by now ((I would think))!! Then again there are the "other" crafts!

cool

they shot down five AIM-9 Sidewinders AAM's fired at them, and a drone F-4
convinced?

In a starkly sanitized clean room, a stocky Lockheed Martin engineer wearing a shower cap and laboratory smock scuttles in and about black plastic curtains, talking with near-manic intensity and flashing his bright eyes and wry smile. "Want to see something really cool?" asks Paul Shattuck as he yanks back the curtains, revealing a maze of psychedelically colored optics and black anodized metal hardware. "This," he says, "is what they call the Wall of Fire."

The Wall of Fire, a dark, forbidding and mostly classified conglomerate of glass and high-tech hardware 12 feet long, 12 feet wide and 3 feet thick, sits in jarring contrast to the bright white blinding hues of this cavernous, four-story-high room. The contraption is like a black hole, swallowing the light and giving none of it back.

On the floor is an outline of a 747; the Wall of Fire sits poised in the cargo hold of the imaginary aircraft. The device is packed with precision-ground mirrors and lenses with anti-reflective coatings, which provide the spooky spectrum of iridescent colors that seem to shimmer with every movement of your eye. Many sections of the Wall of Fire are concealed. "Dust," the engineers lurking about say, repeatedly. Odd, given that this is a clean room. "OK," they confess, "it's covered up because of you."

AIRBORNE LASER - Click here

that thing is sweet. we need a whole wing or two of those. im going into the air force next year and id love to be on the crewe of one of those babies. plus they work. which is even better. there's our missle sheild. well theater missle shield. those will put the patroits outta business real quick

I found these pictures to add to this --- one is the actual plane equipped with the laser (chemical):





I have read that the aircraft will be designed to carry enough chemicals, for the laser, to allow for 20-40 missile/intercept shots, before requiring a chemical "refueling."

Initial operational capability of 3 of these aircraft is slated for 2006 and fully operational capability of 7 aircraft by 2008.

Makes one wonder when lasers are going to replace missiles on aircraft? Maybe I'm thinking to far ahead in the future.....

regards
seekerof

The only thing I am worried about is that it looks like it could be shot down pretty easy.

I heard about it a couple of years ago. It suppose to be our #1 defence against hostile warheads. I think it is pretty cool considering it can destroy more than a dozen missiles at a time. Next we'll be shooting down planes with it.

Doesn't surprise me, I saw this sort of thing years ago. It was being developed at a college by young budding scientists who did not think they were working for the military. In the end, they filled up their professor's house full of popcorn from the airborne laser. Oh, wait, that was a movie, "Weird Science."

Seriouslly, this is cool. How much time is there before a missile launch is detected do they have to get this things in the air, though? I am guessing any naval based launch near the coast would not provide enough warning to get this in the air and in position.

The laser would be flying in figure 8's around ally contries. Not be on the ground.

I just found this article concerning "lasers" being tested and to be outfitted on the US F-16's.
Article:
www.f-16.net...

This is basically "downsizing" the one that is currently being tested on the 747 and placing it on the F-16. One can imagine that if it is being made to "fit" the F-16, then it is most likely being made as a module/pod that can be easily made to fit on any aircraft.

The implications of this will be that it will make some to many missiles obselete, per se.' Laser usage on fighters will try to replace WVR (within visual range) missiles. The one being planned and tested with the F-16 has a range of 10 miles.....and that puts it within the WVR and mid-BVR (beyond visual range) area's.

Currently, the laser has been tested on low grade simulators. A new system is being loaded onto a couple of "real" F-16 simulators in Arizona for pilots to test out of the usefullness and how the plane will handle with such a mod/pod.

Time of inception is 2010-2012. To cause any damage, the laser will need to have a minimum of 2 seconds of contact....

The laser will most likely be a secondary weapons system because obviously, it will be hindered and downgraded in clouds, etc. IN light of this, it is expected that a F-16 on CAP will still boast 2 AIM-9x's and 2 AIM-120's and a laser mod/pod. Not much has been eluded to on the targeting system to be untilized, but guess's are that it will likely operate with an HMS and radar.....unlike a cannon, just letting it "lock on" and "fire" the aircrafts laser.

regards
seekerof

[Edited on 26-7-2003 by Seekerof]

I hope this technology is passed onto the civilian airlines asap......this could defeat the threat from the disposable shoulder launched SAM. Obviously a good deal of development and minaturization is required before this can be done however.

I think that this would work best w/the F-16/XL. the larger wing and increased fuel capacity would allow it to carry the laser and hold a few BVR missiles and bombs.

Back to the YAB-1 (airborn laser), the plane would fly figure 8's outside the theatre of battle above the clouds to try to avoid enemy aircraft. Like neecro99 said, it has shot down multiple AAMs and a drone F-4 so it should be able to defend itself from them if it needs to. Also the plane if needed would be capable of flying round the clock missions like the B-52 did during the cold war.

Good point abeyer,
The F-16XL was a test plane, just as NASA did the same tests on a F-15.....same design, looks, etc. This plane was basically a test bed for testing DFCS and aerodynamic research and investigations of other advanced technologies. The same "package" that was applied to this test aircraft was then intergrated into the F-16's, without the shape changes equivilant to the XL's, and these changes are: USAF's F-16 "Block 40". The F-16 Block 40 and Block 60 make this aircraft a very versatile and further enhanced the maneuverability of the F-16 overall. Awesome modification to be honest.
The testing of this aircraft and the F-15 version also tested the capabilities for extreme pitch and yaws and extreme AOA's.

In F-16XL is not a production model.

Here is a F-16XL: (currently still looking for the F-15 version)


regards
seekerof