American fourth-generation fighters will be equipped with a laser self-defense system

American fourth-generation fighters will be armed with a self-defense laser system to destroy air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. According to Popular Mechanics, the new system is due to enter service in the mid-2020s.

Laser systems developed as part of the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) project should receive the F-15E, F-15C, F-15EX Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon of the US Air Force, as well as, possibly, the A-10C Thunderbolt attack aircraft II. Aircraft of the fifth generation F-22 and F-35 will not be equipped with this system, so as not to harm the Stealth system installed on them.

The main task of the new system is to destroy enemy missiles approaching the aircraft with a laser. The power of the laser, controlled using artificial intelligence (AI) systems, should be tens of kilowatts, and the main difficulty in using it may be "atmospheric disturbances" such as smoke or high air humidity.

The United States Air Force intends to deploy laser systems weapons on fighters by the mid-2020s. Service relies on defense contractor (Lockheed Martin) SHiELD laser system - a laser that will protect fighters from approaching missiles

- writes the edition.

For our part, we note that at the beginning of May last year, the US Air Force press service announced the first successful tests of a prototype of a laser installation being developed as part of the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) project.

Reportedly, the tests took place at the White Sands test site in the state of New Mexico. The laser-tested on the ground was able to shoot down several missiles. The military recognized the tests as successful and announced the imminent continuation of the tests of the prototype, but already in the air. According to the plans of the developers of the system, air tests are scheduled for 2021 year.

Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin corporations carried out work in this direction. Apparently, the US Air Force chose Lockheed Martin as the final contractor.

Work within the framework of the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program started after the US Air Force command considered the existing aircraft protection means insufficient and proposed to develop laser systems for the destruction of attacking aircraft in addition to the existing electronic warfare systems and heat traps. missiles.

Comments

[iouris]

When they are equipped, then it will be possible to discuss.

[hydro]

in any case, various Russian design bureaus must also do this, but there is atmospheric interference, but still a laser is the future, a flash is the past, the missiles are completely different!

[iouris]

Quote: hydroy

in any case, you need to do this, too, various design bureaus

Various design bureaus should have issued decisions a long time ago, and the Ministry of Finance should finance, and the Ministry of Industry-Torg should produce ... In the end, the laser was invented by Soviet scientists.

[Grandfather]

American fourth-generation fighters will be equipped with a laser self-defense system

a logical continuation of the "shell-armor" opposition. we have a good start, we need to come off.

[syndicalist]

Quote: Dead Day

we have a good start, we need to come off.

How much more? We have come off so much that we will never catch up.

[Ros 56]

You should get an appointment with Mishustin.

[svp67]

Quote: hydroy

in any case, various Russian design bureaus should also do this,

We have already been engaged for a LONG time and there is a TOTAL. Only no money ...

[OgnennyiKotik]

While you can watch the animation.

[voyaka uh]

The video shows a shot of a fighter with a laser at a missile defense system, which was launched
not on this fighter, but on a large plane, which this fighter
accompanies / guards.
In the event of an attack on this fighter itself, the laser will not help, since they usually attack
bottom-side-back, not front.
I would set such a laser, turned back, for self-defense.

[bayard]

And why not put such an installation right on the heavy aircraft under protection? On the AWACS plane, bombers, tankers, scouts? And put in the turning sphere behind the tail unit? Or under the belly.
If the issue was resolved with the power industry (the use of excess torque of the turbine shaft, removal through the power take-off shaft and generation), then there should not be any special problems with the 20-50 kW laser itself.
... And it is better to do it in Russia.

[voyaka uh]

"Why not put such an installation immediately on a guarded heavy aircraft" ///
----
They are already doing it. Israeli passenger liners have lasers
protecting against MANPADS. And on military transports - too.
Here in the article we are talking about fighters.

[bayard]

What they are putting now is blinding lasers that disable the seeker, but the article is still talking about a combat laser capable of shooting down a missile with any head. This is what the declared power says.
In Russia, they also put similar ones you described.

[voyaka uh]

This system is not small at all.
And the fighter still takes a whole additional container.
And there are already two of them on the F-16, for example:
telescopic sight on the ground (targeting pod) and electronic warfare.

An illustration of what it looks like under the fuselage of the El Al liner.

[hydro]

It is quite obvious that heat traps are already old-fashioned, a laser hitting a rocket is an innovation on the way, and if successful, a missile attack becomes useless (

[Genry]

Quote: hydroy

thermal traps are already old, a laser hitting a rocket is on the way - an innovation

Self-defense lasers only blind the missile's seeker and do not destroy it. If the missile is controlled remotely, there will be no self-defense effect.

[voyaka uh]

At the terminal site, most missiles switch to guidance
with his GOS (except, probably, Shell, which has no GOS at all).
If the seeker is out of order, then automatic switching back to guidance
from ground radar is not provided.

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: voyaka uh

If the seeker is out of order, then automatic switching back to guidance
from ground radar is not provided.

We will provide!

[Voyager]

And hello melee

[Sancho_SP]

It is still very far from the physical destruction of a rocket with a laser, however, it is quite possible to disable the optical or IR guidance system.

[Cyril G ...]

This is self-defense against RVV MD. The decision is absolutely sound ...

[Sancho_SP]

So how is self-defense then? Does the gsn laser blind or destroy the missile itself?

[Cyril G ...]

Surely disabling the seeker and most likely from the rear hemisphere

[Sancho_SP]

I believe that with a slight modification of the rocket fairing, the laser will be easy to aim at)

[Cyril G ...]

Maybe. On the go, for example, I compose this option.
RVV is guided by radio correction commands, shooting of a protective cap from the seeker is carried out a couple of seconds before the target + introduction of a maneuver into the RVV control system at the final stage of the rocket flight

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: Cyril G ...

RVV is guided by radio correction commands, shooting of a protective cap from the seeker is carried out a couple of seconds before the target + introduction of a maneuver into the RVV control system at the final stage of the rocket flight

And the time to capture? And what about shooting heat traps and disposable radio transmitters in a couple of seconds?

[Cyril G ...]

Well, damn it, you already require the result of the preliminary design on the fly? I do not know. When, or rather if this garbage is put there, the probability of the device's survival is unlikely to grow by more than 5-10 percent. Which is of course a profit.

[Grandfather]

Quote: Sancho_SP

American fourth-generation fighters will be equipped with a laser self-defense system

Quote: Sancho_SP

It is still very far from the physical destruction of a rocket with a laser, however, it is quite possible to disable the optical or IR guidance system.

Not about that power we are talking about, "blinding" with a low-power laser - this is the "trick" of the Yankes, however, it still requires verification.

[dgonni]

The question is where they will take the necessary power and what should be the weight of the buffer battery for this device

[Well done]

And this device also needs to be stabilized from vibrations, nobody canceled the weather conditions. Yes, we need some kind of "atomic" battery. It's easier to assume that this is a fake.

[Sancho_SP]

If the power is 10 kW, then the beam diameter will be quite large at a distance of one kilometer.

[OgnennyiKotik]

Probably we are talking about the upper layers of the troposphere and the lower layers of the stratosphere (10-25 km), there are excellent conditions for using a laser. The efficiency of laser application in the lower troposphere is questionable.

[askort154]

... the main difficulty in using it can be "atmospheric disturbances" such as smoke or high humidity.

It turns out that it can be used stably only in the stratosphere. Below the tropopause, cloudiness and precipitation are common meteorological phenomena. So the stability of the application is not high. Moreover, the "clear sky" in the northern hemisphere of the Earth is much less common than in the southern. Russia is in the north.

[Sergey39]

They are trying to make us unnecessary. In the coming decades, there will be no full-fledged laser weapons. You can protect yourself from the blinding of the seeker. This is what we need to work on.

[Bolt cutter]

It is necessary to "teach" missiles to hit targets from above, making a slide at some distance from the target aircraft.

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: Bolt Cutter

It is necessary to "teach" missiles to hit targets from above, making a slide at some distance from the target aircraft.

And I've heard that the "highlight" of the "Cube" air defense system was that before hitting a target, the missile made a "slide" ...?

[Retvizan 8]

Immediately a picture from Star Wars is presented.
Self-defense laser fighter beautiful picture.
But it is unlikely to be implemented in the near future, because so far it requires a huge source of energy.

[tralmaster]

Equipping is possible, but how much will the aircraft's weight change and what will have to be sacrificed?

[bars1]

A similar system was installed on the Su-57

[hydro]

Data is open or secret) it is better not to write this for review)

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: bars1

A similar system was installed on the Su-57

Quote: hydroy

Data is open or secret) it is better not to write this for review)

The data is open ... the designation of the complex is known ...

[storm]

President - With this is our answer to the United States, the complex has passed tests and is already working in Syria.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: assault

President - Here is our answer to the United States, the complex has passed tests and is already working

The United States has not yet developed its own complex; Russia already has an answer to it. Cool.

[Klingon]

Well, for each bolt there is a corresponding wrench, which means that ours will develop more advanced I-V missiles with some kind of anti-laser nano-coating. ... Vaughn Chubais will tell you exactly which

[Klingon]

Quote: tralmaster

Equipping is possible, but how much will the aircraft's weight change and what will have to be sacrificed?

and not only the weight .. the most important thing is where this laser (and lasers are a voracious thing) will take energy from? no APU will be enough for this case. And what kind of laser? chemical or solid? The A-60 had an iodine-oxygen laser

[eklmn]

For the curious:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a34632516/air-force-fighter-jet-death-rays/
(lane google)
“The SHiELD, when combined with existing thermal rocket launchers, may well someday be controlled by an AI-like R2D2 tasked with protecting its combat aircraft from missile attack.
Lasers will be useful aircraft weapons. The laser can be powered by an aircraft engine, eliminating the need for an onboard gun magazine and providing a theoretically unlimited number of shots. The laser energy travels at the speed of light, eliminating ballistics from the aiming equation and making evasion impossible.
However, lasers have several disadvantages. Atmospheric effects, especially water moisture and smoke particles, quickly weaken the power of the laser. The further the laser beam travels, the weaker it becomes.
In addition, the laser must be aimed at a fast moving missile long enough to be effective. Unlike rockets, whose high-explosive warheads deliver a lot of energy in a single destructive explosion, the laser emits a steady stream of concentrated light that heats the target until something fails or explodes. An ultra-high speed rocket can be a tricky target to focus on. ”
“While the exact kilowatts of LANCE, the SHiELD beam, are confidential, we can say that this is a high power laser. What is remarkable about this is that we took a powerful laser and downsized it to fit on a tactical fighter. "

[Klingon]

Well, here's a course in optical physics, I don't need to read it, I sort of graduated from school and university, so Shlyapnikov will treat about the speed of light and AI. If everything were so simple, the heavens would already shine with lasers in all wars, but so far, apart from the cumbersome land and ship versions of nichrome, compact and more or less usable for use has not been possible

[bars1]

Quote: Nikolaevich I

The data is open ... the designation of the complex is known ...

101KS-O is part of the 101KS "Atoll" optoelectronic complex installed on the Su-57. Serves to influence the IKGSN missiles with a suppression laser. Installed in the "balls" on top of the fuselage (behind the cockpit canopy) and below the fuselage (under the cockpit )

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: bars1

101KS-O is part of the 101KS "Atoll" optoelectronic complex installed on the Su-57. Serves to influence the IKGSN missiles with a suppression laser. Installed in the "balls" on top of the fuselage (behind the cockpit canopy) and below the fuselage (under the cockpit )

Yes ... that's what I meant ...

[The eye of the crying]

This complex is not designed to destroy missiles (at least officially).