Pentagon: Lasers are weapons of the future, but this won't always be the case

Ultra-shortwave pulsed lasers, emitting a trillion watts in one quadrillion of a second, are today a technology too early for military use. Lasers are weapon the future, but it won't always be that way. Sooner or later, the introduction of laser weapons into the troops in a full-fledged version will take place.

This opinion was expressed by Joe Shepard, vice president of innovation in directional energy of the American company Booz Allen Hamilton, in his article published by Breaking Defense magazine.

There is an old joke in US defense circles that laser weapons are the technology of the future, and will always be so. But today the Pentagon is trying to translate the dream of the possibilities of directed energy into reality. At the same time, according to Shepard, he may be investing money in the wrong direction of research in which he should.

Much of the Pentagon's current research on directed energy weapons concerns CW lasers, which use a relatively low power beam to burn optical sensors or cause other material damage over time. But the military is increasingly interested in ultra-shortwave pulsed lasers (USPLs), very powerful beams fired in a tiny fraction of a second, so to speak, capable of vaporizing a small area of ​​a target's surface or destroying its electronics instantly.

It is vital to maintain the US leadership as the first country to effectively deploy USPL technology on the ground will have a clear military advantage

Shepard says.

In his opinion, the embodiment of this principle in real weapons systems is possible in about 10-15 years.

According to plans announced last year by the Pentagon, work on a powerful continuous wave laser weapon is in full swing. The United States intends to install it on aircraft from 2022 and on ground vehicles from 2023.

Comments

[Shurik70]

the first country to effectively apply USPL technology on the ground will have a clear military advantage

But it won't always be this way

[Finches]

"Garin, Garin," he repeated with a heartbreaking reproach. "I gave him the idea of ​​a hyperboloid. I gave him the idea of ​​an Olivine belt ..."

[Cube123]

Quote: Finches

"Garin, Garin," he repeated with a heartbreaking reproach. "I gave him the idea of ​​a hyperboloid. I gave him the idea of ​​an Olivine belt ..."

Alexei Tolstoy had at least a reasonable idea.

And here is absolute nonsense:

emitting a trillion watts in one quadrillionth of a second

As a result, energy is only one thousandth of a Joule. It's not enough even to light a match A flashlight bulb emits the same energy in two thousandths of a second. And a laser from a DVD player in a fifth of a second. And he only needs to burst balloons at a distance of no more than a couple of centimeters.

[Karos]

The mirrors are enough to reflect the full power of the laser, though where the beam will go is not predictable.

[Cananecat]

Quote: Karos

Grabs a mirror to reflect the full power of the laser

An ordinary mirror may not fit, we are talking not so much about a beam of light as about a short burst of plasma, and these are very high temperatures.

[Mole13]

Yeah, but add a mirror to the "Warrior" kit and the problem is solved.

[vadimtt]

What mirror are you talking about? Already starting from a miserable megawatt per 1mm2, mirrors do not exist in principle. And we are talking about petawatts By the way, this is another problem of such a weapon - because of its super-luminosity, the beam hits in two diametrically opposite directions, this must be taken into account In the meantime, capacitor banks (and not simple ones, but very tricky ones) will occupy the football field - there will be no weapons. And such experimental installations have been a dime a dozen for a long time. Everyone wants to get thermonuclear fusion not only in the cooperative Itera, but everyone in their own laser laboratory, separately from everyone, so to speak.

[rocket757]

Pentagon: Lasers are weapons of the future, but this won't always be the case

Does anyone argue with this? Although they supplement that will be used for specific tasks, and not everywhere.

[datura23]

Mirrors are the armor of the future, but it will never be

[Aleksandr97]

The problem of the use of lasers in combat is not a banal increase in the radiation power, this is half the trouble, quite a trouble with the systems of concentration and control of the energy beam. The American laser Boeing was closed essentially due to the "disposable" guidance system.

[mojohed2012]

Lasers in the course of scientific research do not in any way pull against the hypersonic missiles of the Russian Federation in metal and the operation of the Russian Armed Forces. This is a shift in focus from the failures of the United States in hyper to secondary prerequisites for a possible hypothetical obtaining in the distant future of laser weapons of acceptable power and characteristics.

[kytx]

In space, it is possible and will be

[sergo1914]

... Lasers are the weapon of the future, but it won't always be so

It will be different in the future.

[Klingon]

Quote: Alexander97

The problem of the use of lasers in combat is not a banal increase in the radiation power, this is half the trouble, quite a trouble with the systems of concentration and control of the energy beam. The American laser Boeing was closed essentially due to the "disposable" guidance system.

Not at all because of this, but because it is a bulky chemical laser. Oxygen-iodine or whatever it was, as far as the reagent is enough and will emit.

[lvov_aleksey]

Quote: vadimtt

What mirror are you talking about? Already starting from a miserable megawatt per 1mm2, mirrors do not exist in principle. And we are talking about petawatts By the way, this is another problem of such a weapon - because of its super-luminosity, the beam hits in two diametrically opposite directions, this must be taken into account In the meantime, capacitor banks (and not simple ones, but very tricky ones) will occupy the football field - there will be no weapons. And such experimental installations have been a dime a dozen for a long time. Everyone wants to get thermonuclear fusion not only in the cooperative Itera, but everyone in their own laser laboratory, separately from everyone, so to speak.

As far as I know the theory of a laser, no one can solve the problem with precipitation so far - everything is beautiful in a vacuum.

[Nikolaevich I]

I want a proton blaster! (Not to be confused with a protein bar!) ...