Posted on 06/27/2017 9:37:12 AM PDT by xzins
The United States Special Operations Command just tested a high-energy laser on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, marking the first time such a weapon has been deployed aboard a rotary-wing aircraft.
According to a press release from defense company Raytheon, the test was a complete success, “providing solid experimental evidence for the feasibility of high resolution, multi-band targeting sensor performance and beam propagation supportive of High Energy Laser capability for the rotary-wing attack mission.”
Matthew Ketner, branch chief of the High Energy Laser Controls and Integration Directorate at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Virginia, shows the effects of laser hits on materials during Lab Day in the Pentagon, May 18, 2017. (Photo Credit: Mr. David Vergun (Army News Service))
“This data collection shows we’re on the right track. By combining combat proven sensors, like the MTS, with multiple laser technologies, we can bring this capability to the battlefield sooner rather than later,” the release quoted Raytheon vice president of Advanced Concept and Technologies for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems Art Morrish as saying.
The Apache used a HEL mated with a version of Raytheon’s Multi-Spectral Targeting System, which combined electro-optical and infrared sensors, against a number of targets. The data from this test will be used to future HEL systems to address unique challenges that stem from their installation on rotary-wing aircraft, including the effects of vibration, downwash, and dust.
The Apache has had laser systems since it entered service in 1984, but the lasers were low-power systems that are used to guide AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. A HEL will have the ability to destroy targets.
An Army release noted that the service has also tested lasers on the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck in April 2016 and the Stryker this past February and March. In both cases, the lasers downed a number of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Navy has a laser on board USS Ponce (AFSB(I) 15, formerly LPD 15), which is currently operating in the Persian Gulf.
The Afloat Forward Staging Base USS Ponce conducts an operational demonstration of the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored Laser Weapon System (LaWS) while deployed to the Arabian Gulf. | US Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released
Lasers offer a number of advantages over artillery and missiles. Notably, they are invisible, and the power of the weapon can be adjusted to handle a specific material, like steel plating or Kevlar. HELs can even be set for non-lethal effects on people.
Spec Ops R&D is always a fun read. This is Star Wars stuff. Hoo-Ahh!
“HELs can even be set for non-lethal effects on people.”
Why? So a future Democrat President can write a strongly-worded letter to some tin-pot wannabe dictator saying “Stand down, or we’ll overcook your tri tip?”
To capture enemy for interrogation?
To disperse rioters?
Part of the attraction of lasers and railguns to the Pentagon is the “gee whiz “ high tech stuff, but a more practical is the “ needs no ammo (no exposives)” aspect of easier, never run out reloading. You need fuel for the HEL.
There’s also the direct line of sight and speed of light aspect of the LASER weapon. You shoot the target where it is, not where it will be when your projectile gets there.
They've had this for quite a while. That they're mounting it now on RWA is impressive, given the minute tolerances in a six dimensional equation required for targeting from a rotary wing aircraft's platform, and that's if the chopper is hovering motionless. Neat trick.
Reducing a threat to total molecular disassembly in a millisecond.
(I gussa gits me summa dat.)
;^)
I want one. For moles. On the moon.
LMAO!!! Belly-laughing.
...on the moon.
There are LRAD and ADS for that. The former is a sonic device and the latter employs microwave transmissions. It would be fun to try the ADS on the Antifa critters at their next demonstration.
My question is how well do lasers work in battle field conditions with a lot of smoke and dust in the air?
And this one employs IR wave transmissions ...
It would be fun to try the ADS on the Antifa critters at their next demonstration.
And BLM ...
C'mon Rev, this is just the old Tom Clancy revealing pentagon plans 15 years before they go live.
The last three Tom Clancy novels were junk, written by stand ins, cut and paste, puke.
I have, and have re-read multiple times, every Tom Clancy novel from 'The Hunt For Red October, 1984' 'Red Storm Rising' up to my all time favorite, 'The Bear and The Dragon, year 2000, and all 1028 pages.
Every thing after that, junk and crap.
The 'Teeth of the Tiger' was so poorly written, that there were multiple text screw ups, something that never happened in Clancy's "REAL" novels.
SUPER, they create the dust and smoke, after that, use the russian provided 'Missssillles".
Very well. We’ve been using them for range finding on tanks for decades.
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