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.
Man that headline was misleading to me - here I was thinking that they had lit up a helo with a laser.
“I want sharks with frickin lasers on their head”
How about an Apache attack helicopter with a frickin high power laser attached to it?
We have HEL systems that can hit artillery shells fired from tanks, and destroy them in mid-flight now.
“One downside, he noted, is that lasers take a lot of energy and have difficulty penetrating haze, dust, smoke and materials with anti-laser coatings.”
Not saying they won’t work at all but if I was Russian scientists, I would be spending time looking for ways to generate the right kind of smoke to use in the battle field to thwart laser weapons.
I had not seen that, but your reading makes perfect sense.
Overcooking my Tri-tip would amount to war or withdrawal....from the dinner table...
Current lasers do remarkably well penetrating smoke and dust but those things can severely degrade the laser. In my experience, from 15 years ago, is tht lasers do not work well against mirrors; they deflect and confuse them.
“My question is how well do lasers work in battle field conditions with a lot of smoke and dust in the air?”
Not at all.
Dust is usually fairly localize though.
Good to know. I have replaced all my tin foil hats with mirror hats. Well mirrors on top of the tinfoil. We can’t be too careful.
Against a high-power laser everything, no matter how shiny, actually looks black.
Thats nothin’ ! I have one mounted on my dog.
His name is Lazer. He is trained to set the laser off with a tail twitch while running through a crowd of Daish supporters.
His go word? Alahwahoo SNACKbar!
Burf!
I never went to combat, but I've fired a heck of a lot of tank rounds. Every single time that tank fires, the gunner uses his range finder...and I mean EVERY single time. The gunner lases, and the commander sees that the range has gone from all zeros to some value...meaning it has attained a ballistic solution. Only after seeing a good range does the commander order 'fire'. I was the commander - if the gunner did not get a good range, I would shout 're-lase'. I can count on one hand the number of times I had to do this.
Keep in mind these were relatively low powered LASERs, and used as a range finder, it relied on not only the LASER arriving on target, but also the LASER bouncing back. If that worked 99% of the time without issue, I'm pretty sure the statement about a high powered LASER not penetrating dust and smoke is a mis-direction. Looked at another way, if somebody were pointing a high powered LASER at you, would you count on dust and smoke stopping it?
Rotflol!!
Wasn’t “Cardinal of the Kremlin” the book that was nearest to this topic?
Anyone know what kind of laser this is and where I can get one? I am serious, looking for laser to cut and weld non-conductive materials.
Thanks. Good to know.
It was about Star Wars development and a mole buried inside the kremlin. Great story.
Wow a lot of benefits.... Doesn’t jam, cost effective eventually, distance, speed of light, adjustable damage level, light weight, no recoil (use in satellites), better going through atmosphere from space....
No wonder everyone in StarWars uses lasers....
Little known fact, highly classified.
The perfect defense for the laser cannon is the disco ball.
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