Air Force scientists are testing a bolt-on aircraft laser
weapon
Air Force scientists are working to arm the B-52 with
defensive laser weapons able to incinerate attacking air-to-air or
air-to-ground missile attack.
Offensive and defensive laser weapons for Air Force fighter
jets and large cargo aircraft have been in development for several years now.
However, the Air Force Research Lab has recently embarked
upon a special five-year effort, called the SHIELD program, aimed at creating
sufficient on-board power, optics and high-energy lasers able to defend large
platforms such as a B-52 bomber, C-130 aircraft or fighter jet.
“You can take out the target if you put the laser on the
attacking weapon for a long enough period of time,” Air Force Chief Scientist
Greg Zacharias told Scout Warrior in an exclusive interview.
Possibly using an externally-mounted POD with sufficient
transportable electrical power, the AFRL is already working on experimental
demonstrator weapons able to bolt-on to an aircraft, Zacharias added.
Given that an external POD would add shapes to the fuselage
which would make an aircraft likely to be vulnerable to enemy air defense radar
systems, the bolt-on defensive laser would not be expected to work on a
stealthy platform, he explained.
However, a heavily armed B-52, as a large 1960s-era target,
would perhaps best benefit from an ability to defend itself from the air; such
a technology would indeed be relevant and potentially useful to the Air Force,
as the service is now immersed in a series of high-tech upgrades for the B-52
so that it can continue to serve for decades to come.
Defending a B-52 could becoming increasing important in
years to come if some kind of reconfigured B-52 is used as the Pentagon’s
emerging Arsenal Plane or “flying bomb truck.”
The B-52 with all its ammunition.
Lasers use intense heat and light energy to incinerate
targets without causing a large explosion, and they operate at very high
speeds, giving them a near instantaneous ability to destroy fast-moving targets
and defend against incoming enemy attacks, senior Air Force leaders explained.
Defensive laser weapons could also be used to jam an
attacking missile as well, developers explained.
“You may not want to destroy the incoming missile but rather
throw the laser off course — spoof it,” Zacharias said.
Also, synchronizing laser weapons with optics technology
from a telescope could increase the precision needed to track and destroy fast
moving enemy attacks, he said.
Another method of increasing laser fire power is to bind
fiber optic cables together to, for example, turn a 1 Kilowatt laser into a
10-Kilowatt weapon.
“Much of the issue with fiber optic lasers is stability and
an effort to make lasers larger,” he explained.
Targeting for the laser could also seek to connect phased
array radars and lasers on the same wavelength to further synchronize the
weapon.
Laser Weapons for Fighter Jets
Aircraft-launched laser weapons from fighter jets could
eventually be engineered for a wide range of potential uses, including
air-to-air combat, close air support, counter-UAS(drone), counter-boat, ground
attack and even missile defense, officials said.
Low cost is another key advantage of laser weapons, as they
can prevent the need for high-cost missiles in many combat scenarios.
Air Force Research Laboratory officials have said they plan
to have a program of record for air-fired laser weapons in place by 2023.
Ground testing of a laser weapon called the High Energy
Laser, or HEL, has taken place in the last few years at White Sands Missile
Range, N.M. The High Energy Laser test is being conducted by the Air Force
Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
The first airborne tests are slated to take place by 2021,
service officials said.
Air Force leaders have said that the service plans to begin
firing laser weapons from larger platforms such as C-17s and C-130s until the
technological miniaturization efforts can configure the weapon to fire from
fighter jets such as an F-15, F-16 or F-35.
Air Combat Command has commissioned the Self-Protect High
Energy Laser Demonstrator Advanced Technology Demonstration which will be
focused on developing and integrating a more compact, medium-power laser weapon
system onto a fighter-compatible pod for self-defense against ground-to-air and
air-to-air weapons, a service statement said.
Air Force Special Operations Command is working with both
the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren to
examine placing a laser on an AC-130U gunship to provide an offensive
capability.
Another advantage of lasers is an ability to use a much more
extended magazine for weapons. Instead of flying with six or seven missiles on
or in an aircraft, a directed energy weapon system could fire thousands of
shots using a single gallon of jet fuel, Air Force experts said.
Overall, officials throughout the Department of Defense are
optimistic about beam weapons and, more generally, directed-energy
technologies.
Laser weapons could be used for ballistic missile defense as
well. Vice Adm. James Syring, Director of the Missile Defense Agency, said
during the 2017 fiscal year budget discussion that “Laser technology maturation
is critical for us.”
And the U.S. Navy also has several developmental programs underway
to arm their destroyers and cruisers will possess these systems to help ships
fend off drones and missiles.
Man-in-the-Loop
As technology progresses, particularly in the realm of
autonomous systems, many wonder if a laser-drone weapon will soon have the
ability to find, acquire, track and destroy and enemy target using sensors,
targeting and weapons delivery systems — without needing any human
intervention.
While that technology is fast-developing, if not already
here, the Pentagon operates under and established autonomous weapons systems
doctrine requiring a “man-in-the-loop” when it comes to decisions about the use
of lethal force, Zacharias explained.
“There will always be some connection with human operators
at one echelon or another. It may be intermittent, but they will always be part
of a team. A lot of that builds on years and years of working automation
systems, flight management computers, aircraft and so forth,” he said.
Although some missile systems, such as the Tomahawk and SM-6
missiles, have sensor and seeker technologies enabling them to autonomously, or
semi-autonomously guide themselves toward targets — they require some kind of
human supervision. In addition, these scenarios are very different that the use
of a large airborne platform or mobile ground robot to independently destroy
targets.
Read the original article on Scout Warrior. Copyright 2017.
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