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Directed energy lasers - fact or fiction?
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| 16 February 2006 |
By Bill Sweetman, IDR Technology & Aerospace Editor
Minneapolis
More than a century after HG Wells' fictitious Martians used their 'heat-rays' to barbecue half the UK armed forces and to cut a warship in half, it is still unclear exactly when effective, 'speed-of-light' high-energy laser technology will enter the battlefield.
The demonstration of an airborne system is at least six years behind schedule and the construction of a second operational system has been deferred under the Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget while more practical and affordable systems, including short-range systems, are still in the laboratories.
Last August, Sheldon Meth, the Tactical Technology Office programme manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) , summed up the agency's view of current laser technology: "Neither chemical nor solid-state lasers have reached the efficiency levels needed for combat readiness. Chemical lasers have to lug a portable chemical plant into the field. Solid-state lasers require too much power and coolant to be practical in combat."
Lasers, nonetheless, remain popular among senior Pentagon officials because, if they can be made to work, they promise to revolutionise some aspects of warfare.
Northrop Grumman and United Defense are working on a US Army project called the Tactical Laser-Operational Needs for a vehicle-mounted laser to counter threats such as incoming mortar rounds.
The US Navy is designing its new surface combatants to accommodate directed-energy (DE) weapons when the technology for missile-defence systems matures.
The US Air Force (USAF), leading the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) programme, is linking that effort to potential DE weapons.
The most spectacularly 'Wellsian' of the known current laser programmes is the Airborne Laser (ABL), which has so far cost USD3 billion. The project is sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency with Boeing as prime contractor. Mounted in a B-747-400 transport aircraft, the ABL uses a chemical oxygen-iodine laser, invented by USAF's laboratories in the 1970s.
Other developments include the Joint High-Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) programme, sponsored by the army, air force and navy. Last year, the Northrop Grumman-led industry team demonstrated a 27 kW solid-state laser with a total run time of 350 seconds, meeting standards for beam quality and completing Phase 2 of JHPSSL. In December 2005, the team was awarded a 36-month, USD57 million contract for Phase 3, culminating in the demonstration of a 100 kW system. That power level is "generally regarded as being enough to shoot things out of the air", said Northrop Grumman Directed-Energy Director of Business Development Dan Wildt, at a range of "several miles" depending on a target's hardness, altitude and other variables.
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