US Air Force moves aggressively on lasers

[power of steel]

How would they generate energy for laser?

 

[AMDR]

How would they generate energy for laser?

The engine of the host aircraft.

 

[Moon]

The engine of the host aircraft.

Won't batteries be kept as "ammunition"?.

 

[AMDR]

Won't batteries be kept as "ammunition"?.

Ill take a section from this threads article:

"What’s more, a laser only runs out of ammunition when you run out of electrical power. A single gallon of gas can power multiple blasts. So instead of carrying at most half-a-dozen supersonic missiles, a laser-armed aircraft could fire hundreds of shots that travel at the speed of light — and then rendezvous with an aerial refueling tanker to reload its weapons without ever landing."

So as far as we know there wont be any batteries because the electrical power from the engine will run straight to the Laser when needed, without storage.

 

[power of steel]

The engine of the host aircraft.

How is that going to work? By conservation of energy, the chemical energy in the fuel must be used to turn the propeller as kinetic energy, so it cannot be used as light energy of laser.

 

[AMDR]

How is that going to work?

The engine of the aircraft carrying the laser will generate electrical power that will be fed to the laser to use

 

[Moon]

How is that going to work? By conservation of energy, the chemical energy in the fuel must be used to turn the propeller as kinetic energy, so it cannot be used as light energy of laser.

Dynamo

Ill take a section from this threads article:

"What’s more, a laser only runs out of ammunition when you run out of electrical power. A single gallon of gas can power multiple blasts. So instead of carrying at most half-a-dozen supersonic missiles, a laser-armed aircraft could fire hundreds of shots that travel at the speed of light — and then rendezvous with an aerial refueling tanker to reload its weapons without ever landing."

So as far as we know there wont be any batteries because the electrical power from the engine will run straight to the Laser when needed, without storage.

I understand that, but the craft won't be shooting lasers all the time, storing the generated electricity would be more efficient.

 

[Indus Falcon]

Ill take a section from this threads article:

"What’s more, a laser only runs out of ammunition when you run out of electrical power. A single gallon of gas can power multiple blasts. So instead of carrying at most half-a-dozen supersonic missiles, a laser-armed aircraft could fire hundreds of shots that travel at the speed of light — and then rendezvous with an aerial refueling tanker to reload its weapons without ever landing."

So as far as we know there wont be any batteries because the electrical power from the engine will run straight to the Laser when needed, without storage.

Only limitation being "crew fatigue"