Laser Focus World - Photonic Frontiers: laser weapons - Pumping up the power Quote:
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Battlefield lasers don’t have to match the range of megawatt-class lasers developed for long-range missile defense. Military planners consider 100 kW the threshold for defense over the scale of a battle, a few kilometers. The joint office’s goal is to demonstrate that power with a solid-state laser-each armed service has its own plans for using such lasers. The Army envisions mounting a laser in a truck or tracked vehicle to defend against rockets, artillery, and mortars (RAM in military jargon). This year the Air Force will test a chemical laser called the Advanced Tactical Laser in a C-130 “laser gunship,” and is considering putting a solid-state laser in a variant of its forthcoming Joint Strike Fighter. The Navy envisions laser defense of ships against cruise missiles.
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Long story short: Actual, practical, deployable laser weapons are only a few years out from now. The Air Force is going to be testing a laser gunship this year. Actual combat-ready defensive laser weapons are expected within about five years. Chemical lasers are vastly more powerful, but also more difficult to support, and the military is moving away from successful missile-killing-lasers like
ABL (747 with a giant laser) and
MTHEL (semi trailer with a giant laser) towards semiconductor lasers that will run off electricity and fit on a HMMWV (Humvee) or an F-35 Lightning.
Laser weapons will have a dramatic impact on a few areas of warfare, namely air/artillery/missile defense on land, at sea, and in the air. Their advantages in these areas over conventional weapons is staggering. They offer capabilities that warfighters have not enjoyed at any time before in history. And now, real honest-to-god working weapons are only a few years away.
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