Laser weapons will soon appear on the battlefield.

November 1, 2010 1

The company Boeing announced the successful installation of high-energy laser HEL TD on heavy tactical truck HEMTT. Currently, Albuquerque is integrating a laser emitter and a laser beam monitoring system. This is the last stage before connecting the control system at the end of this year. weapons.

The HEMTT solid-state laser HEL truck will have to replace the CRAM anti-aircraft artillery system designed to intercept shells, mines and other small-sized ammunition. HEL has already confirmed the possibility of destroying such targets, it remains to integrate all the nodes into a single system suitable for use on the battlefield.

At present, almost all the individual components of the tactical laser "gun" are ready. A hybrid truck has been created that can generate up to 100 kW of electricity and a beam concentrator. In June of this year, General Atomics Advanced Power Systems Division completed testing of a unique thermal energy battery specially designed for cooling directional weapons. A device weighing 35-kg is a module capable of absorbing a large amount of thermal energy. It can accumulate heat in 230 kW (the equivalent of melting approximately 10 kg of ice in 13 seconds). Heat melts energy-intensive material, similar to wax. Thus, the main problem of a laser weapon is solved - overheating. A hybrid truck that charges a super-capacitor battery and cooling modules will allow continuous firing for a relatively long time - up to ten minutes.

Next year, after assembling all the components and integrating complex control and guidance systems, a low-power combat laser will be tested at White Sands test site. Later, in case of successful testing of the fire control system, a regular HEL laser will be mounted on the truck, which means readiness for combat tests. The exact power of the HEL TD is unknown, but most likely it is not less than 100 kW.

The HEL combat laser is aimed at a target using a low-power laser beam. After a reliable target acquisition, a high-energy laser turns on and destroys it. The guidance system includes mirrors, high-speed processors and optical sensors.

It is safe to say that during 5 years, the first weapons on different physical principles will appear on the battlefield, and the HEMTT HEL will be the pioneer.