Laser Weapons Ready for Use Today, Lockheed Executives Say

[Maarkhoor]

WASHINGTON — For years, the Pentagon has pursued the dream of directed energy weaponry — laser weapons that could defeat a foe for pennies when compared with the expensive kinetic weapons the department relies on. And for years, the technology proved to be elusive.

But the time has finally come where those weapons are capable of being fielded, according to a trio of Lockheed Martin executives who work on the development of the company’s laser arsenal.

“The technologies now exist,” said Paul Shattuck, company director for Directed Energy Systems. “They can be packaged into a size, weight, power and thermal which can be fit onto relevant tactical platforms, whether it’s a ship, whether it’s a ground vehicle or whether it’s an airborne platform.
“So everything exists today,” he said, “it’s just a question of the desire and when is that going to occur.”

Added Daniel Miller, Senior Fellow for Air Vehicle Science and Systems with Lockheed’s Skunk Works division, “the question is moving from, ‘Do we have the devices?’ to ‘How quickly can we integrate them on the platform?’ The question has changed dramatically on the last decade.”

In essence, it’s no longer a technological problem to make laser weapons work. It’s one of integration at the service level.

Asked flatly if the services came to them tomorrow and asked for a laser weapon in the 30 KW range to be delivered, the two men, along with Robert Afzal, a senior fellow with Laser and Sensor Systems, agreed they could produce a viable weapon for fielding.

That doesn’t mean that giant city-melting lasers are on their way. Right now, the weapons are limited to the 15-30 KW scale; going much further requires figuring out how to deal with atmospheric interference, an issue which becomes more complicated with weapons mounted on airborne systems.

But a 30 KW weapon can still bore a hole through a two inch piece of steel in seconds, said Shattuck, which is enough to disable an incoming rocket or hit the engine of a pickup truck. For the Pentagon, that is particularly key, as it has openly talked about the costs associated with using kinetic weapons to attack small trucks operated by the Islamic State group, commonly known as ISIS or ISIL.

Boeing's Compact Laser Weapons System on display Oct. 14 at the annual Association of the US Army in Washington. (Photo: Mike Morones/Staff)


The company has already proven the capabilities of a 30KW weapon with its Athena demonstrator, which last year conducted a series of tests on small unmanned systems from over a mile away. The weapon was able to identify and disable those systems with great accuracy, down to taking out just a leg of a system or blinding its camera.

A number of advancements in recent years have allowed the company to move forward with laser technology, but the biggest one is the movement in fiber-laser technology, which is largely driven from developments in the commercial sector.

The men described the technology as similar to a rack of servers. Once you figure out how to connect them all, you can add more power by adding another server. The same is true for the laser weapons: you add more power slots into the rack and increase its power.
So while the 30 KW weapons may be the ones that are deliverable now, scaling up is more a question of figuring out details than developing a wholescale new technology.

Lockheed is on track to deliver a 60 KW laser for the Army by the end of the year, known as the RELY program, said Afzal, saying “we’re underway. So we’re building hardware right now and we’re beginning the integration.”

Meanwhile, the Navy is using an advanced laser weapon aboard the Afloat Forward Staging Base Ponce, which has been deployed to the Gulf.

Laser Weapons Ready for Use Today, Lockheed Executives Say

 

[Maarkhoor]

@Tipu7 @Sulman Badshah @Devil Soul @Zarvan

@The Eagle @Bratva @Windjammer @Zibago @django
@PARIKRAMA @MilSpec @AUSTERLITZ @WAJsal @Khafee @Taygibay

 

[Zibago]

I have heard America intends to install lazer system on their carriers to counter a possible drone swarm attack

 

[Devil Soul]

Robert Afzal..... Interesting

 

[Maarkhoor]

Robert Afzal..... Interesting

like @James Jaevid

I have heard America intends to install lazer system on their carriers to counter a possible drone swarm attack

It has great potential as anti missile weapon specially on carriers, we should also start research on such weapons as ABM role.

 

[gambit]

But a 30 KW weapon can still bore a hole through a two inch piece of steel in seconds,...

Source: Laser Weapons Ready for Use Today, Lockheed Executives Say

The power to burn thru 2 in thick steel is more than enough for the casing of the current ballistic missile warhead designs. As for mirrors as a defense, who is going to spend the money to retrofit all of their missile stockpile ? As if the mirror is going to be effective a defense anyway.

First...A mirror reflects a range of spectrum which the laser weapon do not have conform.

Second...Even a mirror have to absorb a certain amount of energy before reflection, so if the delivered energy on the mirror's surface is too much for the mirror to absorb, there will be burn thru.

Third...How well can the mirror retains its property as the warhead descent at double digit Mach thru the dirty atmosphere ?

Fourth...There is no need to completely burn thru. All the laser weapon have to do is compromise the warhead's aerodynamic flow and let it stumbles out of control.

Which leads back to the question of who is going to spend how much money to research a mirror defense on all of his ballistic missile stockpile, and that defense must be higher than 50% efficacy in order for the program to be worthwhile ?

 

[Maarkhoor]

The power to burn thru 2 in thick steel is more than enough for the casing of the current ballistic missile warhead

i don't think so modern ballistic missile warhead uses carbon fiber composites materials to withstand reentry heat and i believe they are far more tolerant to heat as compare to naked steel plates.

 

[Sulman Badshah]

Laser weapons are in research and development stage and is progressing fast enough to replace point defense SAM system in next few years ...

 

[Immortan.Joe]

The power to burn thru 2 in thick steel is more than enough for the casing of the current ballistic missile warhead designs. As for mirrors as a defense, who is going to spend the money to retrofit all of their missile stockpile ? As if the mirror is going to be effective a defense anyway.

First...A mirror reflects a range of spectrum which the laser weapon do not have conform.

Second...Even a mirror have to absorb a certain amount of energy before reflection, so if the delivered energy on the mirror's surface is too much for the mirror to absorb, there will be burn thru.

Third...How well can the mirror retains its property as the warhead descent at double digit Mach thru the dirty atmosphere ?

Fourth...There is no need to completely burn thru. All the laser weapon have to do is compromise the warhead's aerodynamic flow and let it stumbles out of control.

Which leads back to the question of who is going to spend how much money to research a mirror defense on all of his ballistic missile stockpile, and that defense must be higher than 50% efficacy in order for the program to be worthwhile ?

1. At what distance? Lasers ,being EM wave, has very high attenuation rate when travelling through a medium like air which limits their effective distance.

2. Mirror does not necessarily means installation of mirror. Reflective coating/paint capable of reflecting wavelenghts of said Laser would do fine and could be installed on earlier missiles.

3. Lasers do not have forever to target a missile. They should be effective within matters of seconds to minutes.

4. Lasers would be useless for targeting warhead which is designed to withstand extreme heat. Lasers ,as BMD, would be more useful in boost phase or mid-phase interception.



There are two problems in design: One concern fundamental Physics and latter concern Engineering challenges. This problem of Laser sadly concerns former. Laser ,being an EM wave and a high frequency one at that, have a very high attenuation rate when travelling through a medium like air due to dispersion, absorption, and reflection; and this increases with distance and strength of beam. This limitation on Lasers is fundamental ,by virtue of very nature of their property, so it could not be overcome. Lasers ,if future, are going to become part of arsenal, but as CIWS, BMD in boost and mid phase if airborne, and last ditch BMD (if both endosphere and exosphere BMD has missed, and warhead is so close that a gaint ground based laser could actually deliver enough enrgy to melt carbon fibre). It is not going to replace missiles.

Another such technology which would not live up to its hype is Hypersonic glide Vehicles. It is a basic Physics law that maneuverability is inversely proportional to speed, and a HGY travelling close to speed of a ballistic missile would have same maneuverability as a ballistic missile. Hypersonic glide vehicles ,in my opinion, would perform similar to fractional orbital bombardment.


The technology of Rail Guns that you are investing in would be much more successful than Laser tech in long run as it has potential to replace everything from Naval missiles, to SAM, to BMD, to Space launch vehicles.

 

[gambit]

No one is saying that the laser weapon development is easy, but what I am seeing is criticisms of a technology -- that is in progress -- by those who probably do not have the equivalent experience of those who are working in that field. Tens of millions of dollars are being spent on a pipe dream ? To scare the Russians and the Chinese ? If you guys think that this is new, you are ignoring history, specifically Raygun's Star Wars program.

When Raygun presented his proposal, no shortage of people from politicians to scientists, ridiculed the actor-turned-President as a simpleton. But since the Cold War ended, it turned out that Gorbachev was informed by his own people that Star Wars was technologically feasible IF THE AMERICANS ARE ALLOWED TO START THE PROGRAM. Therefore, diplomatic efforts must be expended to legally -- via treaties -- prevent the Americans from starting SDI. For two weeks in Reykjavik Gorbachev tried his hardest to do what his scientists advised.

I lived thru those times and now I am seeing the exact same thing. Why do people continues to insists that we do not know what we are talking about ?

i don't think so modern ballistic missile warhead uses carbon fiber composites materials to withstand reentry heat and i believe they are far more tolerant to heat as compare to naked steel plates.

Yes...I am positive that DES never consulted with Boeing, the Minuteman missile manufacturer, on what is the surface composition of the missile's warhead.

 

[Immortan.Joe]

No one is saying that the laser weapon development is easy, but what I am seeing is criticisms of a technology -- that is in progress -- by those who probably do not have the equivalent experience of those who are working in that field. Tens of millions of dollars are being spent on a pipe dream ? To scare the Russians and the Chinese ? If you guys think that this is new, you are ignoring history, specifically Raygun's Star Wars program.

When Raygun presented his proposal, no shortage of people from politicians to scientists, ridiculed the actor-turned-President as a simpleton. But since the Cold War ended, it turned out that Gorbachev was informed by his own people that Star Wars was technologically feasible IF THE AMERICANS ARE ALLOWED TO START THE PROGRAM. Therefore, diplomatic efforts must be expended to legally -- via treaties -- prevent the Americans from starting SDI. For two weeks in Reykjavik Gorbachev tried his hardest to do what his scientists advised.

I lived thru those times and now I am seeing the exact same thing. Why do people continues to insists that we do not know what we are talking about ?


Yes...I am positive that DES never consulted with Boeing, the Minuteman missile manufacturer, on what is the surface composition of the missile's warhead.

I never said Lasers are useless. Lasers would be extremely useful as CIWS , and boost and mid-course Ballistic missile interceptors.Rest is more hype than substance.

But their usefulness is being hyped by their designers (probably to get comfortable amount of funding for Laser program). There are some basic limitations for Lasers ,which simply could not be overcome irrespective of money and research hours you throw at them.

The idea of installing lasers on satellites ,as originally envisioned in Star Wars program, is correct approach ,if you want to use lasers for interdicting missiles. A 10KW laser in space would be more effective than a 1MW laser on ground.

And I do not think there is any workable design of Laser BMD for terminal phase (though I could think of one that is theoretically possible) as it would be extremely difficult to have an effect on heat shield of a warhead using lasers. Lasers ,by their nature, are more suited for boost phase and mid-course interception.

 

[That Guy]

"60 KW laser" and there in lies the problem. Such weapons are far too expensive and resource intensive in their current form. Even the US will be hard pressed to deploy them on any real meaningful scale.

 

[The Eagle]

It was rumored some years back and as well being projected by several weapons makers though seems like dream coming true. So also heard about Chinese advancement in this field as well. Indeed the initial installment of such equipment would be like defensive countering the drone swarm etc at lower speed but to bring down or damage the weapon traveling mach 2 or above would be hard in start and looks like will be working with more advance radar with search track and shoot ability. It was also being shared that LM is promised to install such weapon in F-22 & F-35 I think and is evidence of tech advancement towards next Gen. Such weapon is going to cost a lot initially so there is still plenty of time for serial production of the system which will favor the defensive party to come with counter measures. Future is there in advance tech and hopefully we are learning and studying such possible systems as well.

 

[gambit]

When others were building single shot missiles, we MIRV-ed ours. When others got busy building radars, we made aircrafts that rendered them vulnerable. When other pilots struggled with dumb bombs, we made ours smart.

But nooooo...We do not know what we are doing with the laser.

 

[django]

WASHINGTON — For years, the Pentagon has pursued the dream of directed energy weaponry — laser weapons that could defeat a foe for pennies when compared with the expensive kinetic weapons the department relies on. And for years, the technology proved to be elusive.

But the time has finally come where those weapons are capable of being fielded, according to a trio of Lockheed Martin executives who work on the development of the company’s laser arsenal.

“The technologies now exist,” said Paul Shattuck, company director for Directed Energy Systems. “They can be packaged into a size, weight, power and thermal which can be fit onto relevant tactical platforms, whether it’s a ship, whether it’s a ground vehicle or whether it’s an airborne platform.
“So everything exists today,” he said, “it’s just a question of the desire and when is that going to occur.”

Added Daniel Miller, Senior Fellow for Air Vehicle Science and Systems with Lockheed’s Skunk Works division, “the question is moving from, ‘Do we have the devices?’ to ‘How quickly can we integrate them on the platform?’ The question has changed dramatically on the last decade.”

In essence, it’s no longer a technological problem to make laser weapons work. It’s one of integration at the service level.

Asked flatly if the services came to them tomorrow and asked for a laser weapon in the 30 KW range to be delivered, the two men, along with Robert Afzal, a senior fellow with Laser and Sensor Systems, agreed they could produce a viable weapon for fielding.

That doesn’t mean that giant city-melting lasers are on their way. Right now, the weapons are limited to the 15-30 KW scale; going much further requires figuring out how to deal with atmospheric interference, an issue which becomes more complicated with weapons mounted on airborne systems.

But a 30 KW weapon can still bore a hole through a two inch piece of steel in seconds, said Shattuck, which is enough to disable an incoming rocket or hit the engine of a pickup truck. For the Pentagon, that is particularly key, as it has openly talked about the costs associated with using kinetic weapons to attack small trucks operated by the Islamic State group, commonly known as ISIS or ISIL.

Boeing's Compact Laser Weapons System on display Oct. 14 at the annual Association of the US Army in Washington. (Photo: Mike Morones/Staff)


The company has already proven the capabilities of a 30KW weapon with its Athena demonstrator, which last year conducted a series of tests on small unmanned systems from over a mile away. The weapon was able to identify and disable those systems with great accuracy, down to taking out just a leg of a system or blinding its camera.

A number of advancements in recent years have allowed the company to move forward with laser technology, but the biggest one is the movement in fiber-laser technology, which is largely driven from developments in the commercial sector.

The men described the technology as similar to a rack of servers. Once you figure out how to connect them all, you can add more power by adding another server. The same is true for the laser weapons: you add more power slots into the rack and increase its power.
So while the 30 KW weapons may be the ones that are deliverable now, scaling up is more a question of figuring out details than developing a wholescale new technology.

Lockheed is on track to deliver a 60 KW laser for the Army by the end of the year, known as the RELY program, said Afzal, saying “we’re underway. So we’re building hardware right now and we’re beginning the integration.”

Meanwhile, the Navy is using an advanced laser weapon aboard the Afloat Forward Staging Base Ponce, which has been deployed to the Gulf.

Laser Weapons Ready for Use Today, Lockheed Executives Say

real life phaser weapons are round the corner I guess.