US Air Force general says laser warfare in the sky is coming sooner than you think

This is way cool, ATS. It seems that the Air Force is preparing to equip their fighter jets with lasses in as little as 5 years; fired from what's being called "Directed Energy Pods." This new laser system will be based on HELLADS, a 150-plus-kilowatt system in development by General Atomics and Darpa.

Ground tests are going on now and field usable weapons are projected to be in use by 2020.

Fighter jets may soon take enemies out of the sky using laser weapons. "That day is a lot closer than I think a lot of people think it is," said U.S. Air Force General Hawk Carlisle at this week's 2015 Air Force Association Air & Space conference.

Speaking at a presentation about what Carlisle calls "Fifth-Generation Warfare," he told Ars Technica that the Air Force is looking for something like a laser cannon that can be mounted on fighter aircraft and other manned planes within the next five years. These "directed-energy pods" placed on aircraft could, ideally, stop enemy aircraft, drones, and missiles at a lower "cost per shot" than current missiles and guns.

Not to be outdone, the U.S. Navy's Laser Weapon System (LaWS) was shown off to the world at the end of last year. It uses a "directed energy weapon" to defend ships from drones, small boats, and submarines. Once locked on, the 30-kilowatt blast beam that's about 2-3 nanometers in diameter burns up the target quickly.

Lockheed Martin also showed off its laser weapon earlier this year in a demonstration that burned through the running engine of a small truck in just seconds.

The future is here ATS. Cyborgs, Power Suits, Virtual Reality, Genetic Engineering/ Modification, Space Travel, 3-D Printing, LASERS, etc. It's all coming to pass. I hope mankind is ready for the major advancements which are just around the corner. What says ATS?

www.foxnews.com...

We will soon be wishing for the good ol' days when they get this right and it's put on drones all over America.

Gotta stop them evil terrorists and make sure our "freedom" is defended at all costs, right?

We really should try and advance AI as much as we can so we can make Skynet a reality as soon as possible. Obviously not a one of us is able to make a decision on our own account, it must be dictated by the state. Skynet, or a facsimile thereof, would be the greatest thing for mankind.

As Bart Scott once famously said, "Can't wait!!!".

At only around 150kw I predict this is going to be a very limited application weapon – to the point of almost completely impractical. At 150kw, long dwell time will make evasion easy and atmospheric conditions will play a very significant role on usability. Ablative/reflective coatings for dealing with that power range will be inexpensive. If I was making decisions I would probably put the money toward developing higher power rather than equipping the forces at this point.

a reply to: lostbook

Or sure, a fighter carrying a killer laser. And just last week they were gonna load up a C-130 with one. I don't recall them mentioning any space platforms being loaded with lasers. Did I miss the announcement?

they're just giving us a small sample of what kinds of hightech equipment/weapons/tools exist already in outerspace, today's young adults and their trainers will be using technology we've never heard of or thought about
might be what we think today is advanced here at home will be obsolete in a few years

a reply to: lostbook

Funny, they've had this technology since 1989 (working directed energy weapon systems). This kind of thing is only made public when it becomes advantageous for whatever agenda is in play. EMP cannons using millimeter tubular/ring lasers have been around for quite a while. Geez in the early 90's, after my time in r&d in weapon systems, I was playing with conventional 200kw CO2 lasers.

But in the mid to late 80's, RCA optoelectronics brought out a 1080 Watt PRF stacked heterojunction semiconductor laser that ran at 400v @ 25amps, it was about an inch in diameter and 1.25 inches long. If you cryocooled these units, you could get about 20kw out of them at around a 60% duty cycle. These were high power class IV's available in the 80's lol and it really wasn't that hard to put 100 of them in sync to make a nice 2megawatt 1mm beam.

The only thing they have probably improved upon is the energy storage and delivery system. I expect they are using barium titanium or some other form of semiconductor thin film capacitor system. These types of capacitors have energy storage densities thousands of times greater than lithium ion batteries and much higher delivery rates.

These "new proclamations" from the military are just the very tip of the iceberg.

Cheers - Dave

Anything the military "announces" has already been put to use and likely for a decade.

Kind of reminds me of a certain country that lobbed a couple of missles toward japan almost a decade ago. But I suspect it was a C130 carying the device then.

Point was, announce today, what you already have put to use yesterday. Announce tomorrow, what you are using today. What they dont know might kill them.

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: lostbook

Or sure, a fighter carrying a killer laser. And just last week they were gonna load up a C-130 with one. I don't recall them mentioning any space platforms being loaded with lasers. Did I miss the announcement?

They had THAT one a long long time ago.

I thought they've already been using advanced laser-type weapons since at least 2004?

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
I thought they've already been using advanced laser-type weapons since at least 2004?

I recall seeing a demo film with a time stamp of 1969 on the header, showing a ready-for-space version of TRW's Alpha boring holes through steel plates in the lab.

Neat. New weapons. Just what we need.

So the military get's new laser guns and yet I still can't get the stoplight to notice I'm waiting at an empty intersection and have to wait out the timed cycle.

Or stop some pimple faced 10 year old from hacking secure bank accounts or military computers.

Priorities guys.

a reply to: Bedlam

I thought lasers were old hat anyway

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: Bedlam

I thought lasers were old hat anyway

You can pack a laser around a lot easier. And for 1969, that was cool beans.

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: lostbook

Or sure, a fighter carrying a killer laser. And just last week they were gonna load up a C-130 with one. I don't recall them mentioning any space platforms being loaded with lasers. Did I miss the announcement?

that particular announcement was made a couple of decades ago. allegedly it never happened now. I believe it did happen though.

fas.org...

this was to be part of the layered defense concept. this was leaked by idiot congressmen violating their security oaths on the steps of the capital to get back at President Bush as well as several articles and quiet disappearances thereof plus my own encounter with a accidentally unsecured dog and pony show classified briefing board.

Have we tested them fitted to sharks yet? I only ask because Sharks aren't as dangerous as they used to be, in fact you are more likely to be killed by a vending machine falling on you.

I am more nervous in the canteen than I am in the sea.

This could redress the balance to sharks.

Cool, a post on sharks and lasers and I didn't use the work frikken once.

I remember when they were going on or tested on the 135... Vaguely remember hearing it didn't work near as well as promised...

I'll believe it when it's active.

Eta: that was around 20 years ago when I first joined.

To me all these new weapons sounds like they are making threats to whole wide world. They must have some brilliant minds designing and building these things but imagine if those minds and moneys would be directed to solve world problems instead of creating them.

a reply to: lostbook

The only technological problem that remains in holding back our ability to develop potable tactical beam weaponry seems to be a power source of sufficient veracity. That being said Lazers can be susceptible to atmospheric conditions that can somewhat disperse the ferocity of the beam.

Charged Particle beam weapons however, now those are designed to be used in our atmosphere!

originally posted by: stormbringer1701

originally posted by: Aliensun
a reply to: lostbook

Or sure, a fighter carrying a killer laser. And just last week they were gonna load up a C-130 with one. I don't recall them mentioning any space platforms being loaded with lasers. Did I miss the announcement?

that particular announcement was made a couple of decades ago. allegedly it never happened now. I believe it did happen though.

fas.org...

this was to be part of the layered defense concept. this was leaked by idiot congressmen violating their security oaths on the steps of the capital to get back at President Bush as well as several articles and quiet disappearances thereof plus my own encounter with a accidentally unsecured dog and pony show classified briefing board.

I was being sarcastic toward the way we are told what is happening with technology. In fact, I have the book Airborne Laser: Bullets of Light by Robert W. Duffner, 1997, ISBN 0-306-45622-2. It tell the early story in the development of lasers up to fitting a 747.

As with UFOs, triangles, the US Space Force, Moon bases and probably Mars bases, the dumb public won't recognize what some of us plainly see.

(The quote from my initial post which I was referencing has been lost here, but that is OK.)

originally posted by: CraftBuilder
At only around 150kw I predict this is going to be a very limited application weapon – to the point of almost completely impractical. At 150kw, long dwell time will make evasion easy and atmospheric conditions will play a very significant role on usability. Ablative/reflective coatings for dealing with that power range will be inexpensive. If I was making decisions I would probably put the money toward developing higher power rather than equipping the forces at this point.

Uh huh. Teh 30 KW version took down drones in less than a minute. A 150 kw version will burn a aircrafts titanium skin very quickly. With computer assisted targeting the lasers can stay on target. Also they are already designed to defea t mirrors and reflective surfaces. If they can use one of these lasers in heavy fog liek they tested recently i do not think th e atmosphere will be a issue at th e height they fly. Lasers will prolly just be used for anti missile defense such as against the S series of sams.