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2014-02-01

Systems harness speed and power of light to counter multiple threats

The reasons for the global interest in lasers nowadays are straightforward. Mounted on a fighter jet or bomber, lasers would be capable of shooting down air-to-air missiles or surface-to-air rockets that might deny access to airspace or endanger pilots infiltrating enemy territory.

The ideas aren’t new but the sophistication of the new products certainly is. Indeed, lasers were behind the space-based missile defense shield idea, labelled ‘Star Wars’, first suggested by US President Ronald Reagan in 1983. And a number of governments and defense firms are now in the process of developing weapons that use or incorporate lasers.

A laser (an acronym for ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation’) is an intense beam of light, carefully corralled so that it does not diverge and weaken. The laser is a potentially potent weapon as the beam travels at the speed of light and can cross great distances with minimal loss of intensity. Such a beam could knock out targets at distances ranging from tens of kilometres to, in theory, thousands of kilometres.

As the US Navy has learned to its peril, even the Aegis destroyers and other sophisticated surface warships are vulnerable to small boats operating up close. Various militaries have in the past tested laser weapons that can shoot down small aerial drones and incapacitate small surface vessels. If they can find a laser countermeasure technology that works equally well in protecting aerial and surface assets, it would simplify maintenance and operational know-how for both systems.

But experts caution that laser weapons can be finicky, fragile, and affected by just about everything from the weather to water. While large scale deployment might be a way off, laser systems are receiving priority across the military spectrum.

Enemy surface-to-air threats to manned and unmanned aircraft have become increasingly sophisticated, creating a need for rapid and effective response to this growing category of threats. High-powered lasers can be the answer, as they harness the speed and power of light to counter multiple threats.

A laser weapon, or directed-energy weapon (DEW), emits energy in an aimed direction without the need for a projectile, transferring energy (that’s heat) to a target for a desired effect. And with the aid of high precision optical systems, high-energy lasers can deposit intense amounts of heat on objects up to thousands of kilometers away. Laser weapon systems also provide more capability for offensive missions, adding precise targeting with low probability of collateral damage.

Intended effects on humans may be non-lethal or lethal and have been categorised as physical, physiological, and psychological.

Experts say laser weapons are highly suitable for operations requiring high precision, fast, and scalable effects and for defense against low-cost targets in large numbers. Potential applications include protection of high value assets, such as forward operating bases, soldiers, and vehicles (air, ground, and maritime), the ability to enhance or inhibit tactical mobility, and defense against terrorism.

Among the laser weapon systems used and under development in defense are:

Laser SDB

The Laser Small Diameter Bomb (LSDB) system is the next generation of affordable and low-collateral-damage precision strike weapons, building on the success of the same semi-active laser (SAL) sensor used by Boeing’s Laser JDAM.

LSDB increases mission effectiveness in several ways. By using already-proven laser sensor technology, it offers the flexibility to attack targets of opportunity, including moving targets. With the BRU-61 carriage system, these optimized munitions offer increased load-out for each weapons station to attack multiple targets per sortie. As a 250-lb-class weapon, LSDB’s smaller size and high-performance wing assembly allow it to glide for extended ranges.

Besides providing pilots with a safer stand-off distance of more than 60 nautical miles, LSDB enables target coordinates to be updated after weapon release by illuminating the target with standard laser designation procedures. LSDB also retains a smaller warhead that provides reduced collateral damage, and offers ultra-low fragmentation with the composite ‘focused lethality munition’ (FLM) variant.

Gamma

Gamma is the first product in Northrop Grumman’s next-generation Firestrike family of high-energy, solid-state lasers that are lighter, smaller, and more rugged for military operations than previous systems.

The company announced Gamma in 2012 after extensive testing. Conducted in the company’s Redondo Beach laboratory, the tests demonstrated that the laser could burn through the skin and critical components of a target drone used to simulate anti-ship cruise missile threats to US Navy vessels.

The laser operated at 13.3 kW for a number of shots over a total of 1.5 hours with stable performance and a beam quality that exceeded design goals.

Gamma uses ‘slab’ architecture similar to previous Northrop Grumman high-power, solid-state lasers, such as the Joint High Power Solid State Laser and the Maritime Laser Demonstrator. The term ‘slab laser’ refers to a class of high-power, solid-state lasers with a gain medium, or source of atoms that emit light, in the form of a slab about the size of a microscope slide.

Developed with internal funding, Gamma’s real achievement is in its packaging and ruggedness. The Gamma demonstrator is built in a form that implements the size and weight reduction goals of the Firestrike design, which cuts the weight of the finished laser chain to 400 lbs and shrinks the volume to 23x40x12 inches – about the size of two countertop microwaves.

High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS)

HELLADS is a particularly high-profile system. The goal of the HELLADS program is to develop a 150 kW laser weapon system that is 10 times smaller and lighter than current lasers of similar power, enabling integration on tactical aircraft to defend and defeat ground threats. Weighing less than five kilos per kW, and with a laser system measuring just three centimeters, HELLADS significantly increase engagement ranges compared to ground-based systems.

The program has completed laboratory testing of a fundamental building block for HELLADS, a single laser module that successfully demonstrated the ability to achieve high power and beam quality from a significantly lighter and smaller laser. The program is now in the final development phase where a second laser module will be built and combined with the first, together generating 150 kW.

Trident

Trident is a compact, lightweight, laser rangefinder/designator designed and manufactured by GA-ASI. Designed for tactical airborne applications, Trident supports MQ-9 Reaper high-precision strike with either laser-guided or coordinate-seeking munitions from long stand-off ranges.

The system uses solid state, diode-pumped laser technology to provide high-efficiency, high-reliability operation with a projected service life of two years without maintenance. The laser system has extremely stable boresight, low divergence, and high-pulse energy to ensure airborne accuracy at up to 30 km.

Features of Trident include laser rangefinding and designation, laser target marker, and an eye-safe laser rangefinder to improve range-to-target measurement.

Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM)

Lockheed Martin has successfully demonstrated the area defense anti-munitions (ADAM) system in multiple tests against free-flying Qassam-like rocket targets. The prototype laser system has destroyed eight small-caliber rocket targets in flight at a range of almost one mile in tests in March and April last year.

ADAM laser system is developed to provide defense against short-range threats, including improvised rockets, unmanned aerial systems, and small boats.

Designed for short-range defense of high-value assets, including forward operating bases, the ADAM system’s 10-kW fiber-laser is engineered to destroy targets up to two miles away. The system precisely tracks targets in cluttered optical environments and has a tracking range of more than 3.1 miles. The system is being designed to be flexible enough to operate against rockets as a standalone system and to engage unmanned aerial systems with an external cue. Lockheed Martin based the design on commercial hardware components paired with its laser beam control architecture and software to provide the performance needed for these types of threats without the cost and time required for full custom development. The system is integrated in a container that is mounted on a trailer, making it readily transportable.

High Energy Laser (HEL)

This was quickly dubbed Hel on wheels. The Rheinmetall Live Laser Demonstration last year set a new standard for operational deployment of the group’s mobile and stationary high-energy laser effectors.

In a European first, three different vehicle platforms were equipped with HEL effectors. The versatile tactical potential of this forward-looking technology was amply demonstrated in a wide variety of operational scenarios.

A high point of the demonstration came with the successful engagement of a swarm of jet-powered drones by a stationary Skyshield air defense system, whose effectiveness relies on a HEL effector.

The Skyshield HEL effector enabled successful engagement of a series of incoming generic mortar rounds. The maximum effective range of this technology demonstrator is three kilometers, a one-third increase on the previous year’s performance.

In mid-October last year, in the fourth of a series of HEL live fire demonstrations at its proving ground in Ochsenboden, Switzerland, Rheinmetall once again dramatically demonstrated its leading position in the world of laser weapon technology.

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