US Laser and Rail Gun Development News

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
The shooter see exactly where he is shooting since the laser would bounce off the point where they are aiming illuminating the spot.
As for seeing the laser from a side view, you can see the air being warmed up warping the trail.
YEs...but trust me...inside a Gunship, or aboard a ship, they will have instrumentation/equipment that shows exactly how well they are on target, the amount of het they are transferring, and the estimated t=damage to whatever it is they are shooying at,.
 

SamuraiBlue

Captain
YEs...but trust me...inside a Gunship, or aboard a ship, they will have instrumentation/equipment that shows exactly how well they are on target, the amount of het they are transferring, and the estimated t=damage to whatever it is they are shooying at,.

Basically you are talking about a glorified laser pointer and light enhancement viewer which intensify the illumination of the laser as it bounces off the surface and scattering the emission.With the laser weapon you won't be needing the laser targeting device and only need to calibrate the viewer.
 

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Of course they are to the naked eye.

But they will have instrumentalist tracking and showing exactly where they are hitting...and one day, we will see those images.

It has to be of a visible frequency for that to happen. Infrared and ultraviolet lasers are not visible to the naked eye. Even if the laser is of a visible frequency, you'll need gas or aerial particles to scatter the beam in order for a third-person observer to see it. You can't see a laser beam unless you are looking straight at it in a vacuum.

This quora link does a pretty good job explaining this phenonmenon.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
It has to be of a visible frequency for that to happen. Infrared and ultraviolet lasers are not visible to the naked eye. Even if the laser is of a visible frequency, you'll need gas or aerial particles to scatter the beam in order for a third-person observer to see it. You can't see a laser beam unless you are looking straight at it in a vacuum.

This quora link does a pretty good job explaining this phenonmenon.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
However, we can detect with a high degree of accuracy, without the aid of the human eye, where the laser is going and what it is doing. Creating a computer simulation of that to a high degree of accuracy will allow the operators to see and understand what their equipment is doing.
 

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
However, we can detect with a high degree of accuracy, without the aid of the human eye, where the laser is going and what it is doing. Creating a computer simulation of that to a high degree of accuracy will allow the operators to see and understand what their equipment is doing.

I'm not disputing that. All I am saying is that a real laser probably isn't anything like the "pew pew" laser people expect from sci-fi movies. If anything it is a lot scarier since you've got "invisible death".
 

SamuraiBlue

Captain
Here is something we may see in the not so distant future.

The Star Wars 'superlaser' may no longer be sci-fi

In a world-leading study researchers at Macquarie University have proven a method for multiplying laser power using diamond, demonstrating that a laser similar to the Star Wars 'superlaser' may no longer remain in science fiction.

The research, published in Laser and Photonics Reviews demonstrates a concept – reminiscent of the Star Wars Death Star sci-fi
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
– where the
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
of multiple laser beams is transferred into a single intense output
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
that can be directed to the intended target.

This new laser development has real-world and high-stakes applications in which high power lasers are seen as a key tool in areas such as defence.

"Researchers are developing high power lasers to combat threats to security from the increased proliferation of low-cost drones and missile technology. High power lasers are also needed in space applications including powering space vehicles and tackling the growing space junk problem that threatens satellites," said co-author Associate Professor Rich Mildren.

Read more at:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Consider what would happen if they adapt this technology into Anti Ballistic Missile Defense and/or next generation CWIS.
This means you do not need a very strong single laser output but can combine relatively weak laser beams from various sources to emit a single strong laser beam.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Air Force Tests Bolt-On Aircraft Laser Weapon
1ce18e0.jpg

SCOUT WARRIOR
Yesterday at 10:48 PM

Possibly using an externally-mounted POD with sufficient transportable electrical power, the Air Force Research Lab is already working on experimental demonstrator laser weapons able to bolt-on to an aircraft

Air Force scientists are working to arm the B-52 with defensive laser weapons able to incinerate attacking air-to-air or air-to-ground missile attack.

Offensive and defensive laser weapons for Air Force fighter jets and large cargo aircraft have been in development for several years now. However, the Air Force Research Lab has recently embarked upon a special five-year effort, called the SHIELD program, aimed at creating sufficient on-board power, optics and high-energy lasers able to defend large platforms such as a B-52 bomber, C-130 aircraft or fighter jet.

“You can take out the target if you put the laser on the attacking weapon for a long enough period of time,” Air Force Chief Scientist Greg Zacharias told Scout Warrior in an exclusive interview.

Possibly using an externally-mounted POD with sufficient transportable electrical power, the AFRL is already working on experimental demonstrator weapons able to bolt-on to an aircraft, Zacharias added.

Given that an external POD would add shapes to the fuselage which would make an aircraft likely to be vulnerable to enemy air defense radar systems, the bolt-on defensive laser would not be expected to work on a stealthy platform, he explained.

However, a heavily armed B-52, as a large 1960s-era target, would perhaps best benefit from an ability to defend itself from the air; such a technology would indeed be relevant and potentially useful to the Air Force, as the service is now immersed in a series of high-tech upgrades for the B-52 so that it can continue to serve for decades to come.

Defending a B-52 could becoming increasing important in years to come if some kind of reconfigured B-52 is used as the Pentagon’s emerging Arsenal Plane or “flying bomb truck.”

Lasers use intense heat and light energy to incinerate targets without causing a large explosion, and they operate at very high speeds, giving them a near instantaneous ability to destroy fast-moving targets and defend against incoming enemy attacks, senior Air Force leaders explained.

Defensive laser weapons could also be used to jam an attacking missile as well, developers explained.

“You may not want to destroy the incoming missile but rather throw the laser off course – spoof it,” Zacharias said.

Also, synchronizing laser weapons with optics technology from a telescope could increase the precision needed to track and destroy fast moving enemy attacks, he said.

635913220961540988-laser-dogfightingjpg.jpg


Another method of increasing laser fire power is to bind fiber optic cables together to, for example, turn a 1 Kilowatt laser into a 10-Kilowatt weapon.

“Much of the issue with fiber optic lasers is stability and an effort to make lasers larger,” he explained.

Targeting for the laser could also seek to connect phased array radars and lasers on the same wavelength to further synchronize the weapon.

Laser Weapons for Fighter Jets

Aircraft-launched laser weapons from fighter jets could eventually be engineered for a wide range of potential uses, including air-to-air combat, close air support, counter-UAS(drone), counter-boat, ground attack and even missile defense, officials said.

Low cost is another key advantage of laser weapons, as they can prevent the need for high-cost missiles in many combat scenarios.

Air Force Research Laboratory officials have said they plan to have a program of record for air-fired laser weapons in place by 2023.

Ground testing of a laser weapon called the High Energy Laser, or HEL, has taken place in the last few years at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The High Energy Laser test is being conducted by the Air Force Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

The first airborne tests are slated to take place by 2021, service officials said.

Air Force leaders have said that the service plans to begin firing laser weapons from larger platforms such as C-17s and C-130s until the technological miniaturization efforts can configure the weapon to fire from fighter jets such as an F-15, F-16 or F-35.

Air Combat Command has commissioned the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator Advanced Technology Demonstration which will be focused on developing and integrating a more compact, medium-power laser weapon system onto a fighter-compatible pod for self-defense against ground-to-air and air-to-air weapons, a service statement said.

Air Force Special Operations Command is working with both the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren to examine placing a laser on an AC-130U gunship to provide an offensive capability.

291109D8000005780imagea4_1432572029136.jpg


Another advantage of lasers is an ability to use a much more extended magazine for weapons. Instead of flying with six or seven missiles on or in an aircraft, a directed energy weapon system could fire thousands of shots using a single gallon of jet fuel, Air Force experts said.

Overall, officials throughout the Department of Defense are optimistic about beam weapons and, more generally, directed-energy technologies.

Laser weapons could be used for ballistic missile defense as well. Vice Adm. James Syring, Director of the Missile Defense Agency, said during the 2017 fiscal year budget discussion that “Laser technology maturation is critical for us.”

And the U.S. Navy also has several developmental programs underway to arm their destroyers and cruisers will possess these systems to help ships fend off drones and missiles.

Man-in-the-Loop

As technology progresses, particularly in the realm of autonomous systems, many wonder if a laser-drone weapon will soon have the ability to find, acquire, track and destroy and enemy target using sensors, targeting and weapons delivery systems – without needing any human intervention.

While that technology is fast-developing, if not already here, the Pentagon operates under and established autonomous weapons systems doctrine requiring a “man-in-the-loop” when it comes to decisions about the use of lethal force, Zacharias explained.

“There will always be some connection with human operators at one echelon or another. It may be intermittent, but they will always be part of a team. A lot of that builds on years and years of working automation systems, flight management computers, aircraft and so forth,” he said.

Although some missile systems, such as the Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles, have sensor and seeker technologies enabling them to autonomously, or semi-autonomously guide themselves toward targets – they require some kind of human supervision. In addition, these scenarios are very different that the use of a large airborne platform or mobile ground robot to independently destroy targets.
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


"Air Force leaders have said that the service plans to begin firing laser weapons from larger platforms such as C-17s and C-130s until the technological miniaturization efforts can configure the weapon to fire from fighter jets such as an F-15, F-16 or F-35."
In Order to integrate such a system into a Stealth they may need to design a Conformal pod, Eventually though they would likely aim for full integration into the Airframe.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


"Air Force leaders have said that the service plans to begin firing laser weapons from larger platforms such as C-17s and C-130s until the technological miniaturization efforts can configure the weapon to fire from fighter jets such as an F-15, F-16 or F-35."
In Order to integrate such a system into a Stealth they may need to design a Conformal pod, Eventually though they would likely aim for full integration into the Airframe.

Can the same laser concept be put onto say a ballistic missile for defense against incoming anti-ballistic missile system in the future?
 
Top