Three important milestones indicating significant progress in the development of laser weapons
Laser weapon - its potential and prospects for appearing on the battlefields always cause a lot of controversy, however, one way or another, laser weapons are confidently making their way into the future.
As with any weapon at the forefront of human progress, combat laser programs often shift to the right, but despite the delays, there is growing evidence that laser weapons will eventually enter service with the armies of the world's leading countries in the near future. .
Below we will look at three news from the world of laser weapons, published in July-August 2023, which clearly characterize progress in this direction and their possible consequences.
500 kilowatts
Back in 2019, as part of the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), the US Department of Defense selected the military-industrial corporation Lockheed Martin as a contractor to create a combined high-energy laser with a spectral alignment of beams with a total power of 300 kW . The specified power of 300 kW was achieved by Lockheed Martin about a year ago.
An experimental laser complex from Lockheed Martin with a power of 300–500 kW
Lockheed Martin specialists did not stop there, and at the end of July 2023, a combat laser with a continuous radiated power of 500 kW was introduced. Apparently, the technology of spectral alignment of beams of lower power into one high-energy beam (Spectral Beam Combining - SBC) turned out to be very efficient and scalable.
The specified laser is planned to be placed on all types of platforms - ground, air and surface. Moreover, several years ago there was information that US Navy wants to install 500 kW laser weapons on Virginia-class multipurpose nuclear submarines.
What will the appearance of such weapons lead to, for example, on sixth-generation American combat aircraft?
A situation may arise when such aircraft will be almost impossible to shoot down. That is, formally it will be possible to shoot them down, but a multiple more consumption of anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) or air-to-air missiles will be required. Previously, the influence of laser weapons on the appearance of combat aviation also discussed in the article Laser weapons on combat aircraft. Is it possible to resist him.
The United States does not hide whose missiles they are going to shoot down with their lasers
Perhaps the first candidate for the deployment of laser weapons, deeply integrated into its design and on-board radio-electronic complex, is the latest American stealth bomber B-21 Raider, which in fact may turn out to be something more than just a bomber.
Laser weapons may also appear on other aircraft and helicopters of the US Air Force (Air Force), but, most likely, these will mainly be container versions that have obviously worse characteristics compared to solutions integrated into a combat vehicle in the process of its development .
The concept of a container sample of laser weapons under the wing of the F-16 fighter
By the way, the American experimental air-launched laser system Boeing YAL-1 with an estimated chemical laser power of up to 14 MW was supposed to hit launching ballistic missiles at a range of up to 600 kilometers. Presumably, its actual power during testing was 1–3 MW, which ensured the destruction of training targets at a range of about 250 kilometers (albeit in ideal conditions). Based on this, it can be assumed that an aircraft armed with a 500 kW laser will be able to engage air targets at a range of 40–120 kilometers, which is a lot for a defensive weapon.
The use of laser weapons with a power of about 500 kW and higher as a means of air defense (air defense) on ground carriers and warships will significantly increase the protection of defended objects from attacks carried out using inexpensive but numerous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - kamikazes. Increase - but not guarantee, since high-power laser weapons will remain an expensive toy for a long time, but Kamikaze UAVs could potentially be produced in millions of copies.
In general, the creation of a 500 kW laser weapon can be considered, if not a breakthrough, then an important milestone. Previously, such powers were achievable only for high-power chemical lasers, which were extremely inconvenient to operate and used expensive, toxic and fire-explosive components.
This image hints at the compact dimensions of Lockheed Martin's 500 kW laser weapon.
Continuous laser radiation
This news may seem more boring, since we are not talking about a new, even experimental model of laser weapon, but only about one of the subsystems that ensure its functioning, but this element is very important - the cooling subsystem.
It is no secret that one of the main problems when creating laser weapons is their significant heat generation. The efficiency of modern lasers is about 30–40%, sometimes it is about 50%; some sources mention an efficiency of 70% for disk solid-state lasers. Let's take an average value, let's say that our efficiency is 50%, this means that 500 kW of thermal energy will need to be removed from a 500 kW laser. If this energy is not removed, then very soon the laser will overheat and will have to be turned off until it cools down.
Chinese military scientists from the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, Hunan Province, announced the creation of a promising cooling system for high-energy lasers, which will ensure the operation of laser weapons for as long as desired without the accumulation of generated heat and the need for interruptions in its operation.
The cooling system claimed by the Chinese is a complex complex, including an air (gas) flow source, a heat exchanger, a gas flow control system, and a gas injection / suction system. It supplies clean, dry air, or rather a mixture of inert gases, which is then cooled to the required temperature.
This news suggests that since we are talking about cooling systems, this most likely means that experimental samples of powerful laser weapons already exist in China. The only question is how far China lags behind the United States in this area.
Small, yes deleted
With an increase in the power of combat lasers, everything is clear - the more, the better. But no less important is the reduction in size while providing a certain basic sufficient level of power. For example, at the end of August 2023, the American company Northrop Grumman introduced a 10 kW Phantom laser in a 0,34 cubic meter body and weighing less than 90 kilograms.
The Phantom itself is not a weapon - it must be supplemented with a beam guidance system and a power source. However, a possible promising approach is seen here, when Northrop Grumman itself will not produce laser weapons systems, just as Qualcomm does not produce smartphones, but only sells the basic platforms for their manufacture. Likewise, a manufacturer of machine guns or cannons is not required to produce weapons modules themselves, although this does not exclude the opposite.
Compact 10 kW Phantom laser module from Northrop Grumman
The appearance on the market of high-quality compact laser modules will stimulate other manufacturers to develop laser weapon complexes for various purposes on their basis. With large-scale production, the price of laser modules will decrease, which will potentially allow them to be inserted into every tank or other ground combat vehicle, or to create inexpensive air defense systems capable of working against the ubiquitous small-sized UAVs, and oversaturate the front line with such complexes.
Let’s imagine what the emergence of many such low-power complexes in Ukraine could lead to?
For example, on some wide section of the front, the enemy could suppress all or most of the UAVs carrying out reconnaissance over the battlefield and adjusting artillery fire. Application of FPVdrones-kamikaze would also be significantly more complicated. Yes and the operation of many other weapons systems could be disrupted by laser weapons.
As a result, our troops would be largely “blind”; the enemy would be able to remove minefields with impunity and move forward to attack. In addition, with a high probability, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) would begin to use such lasers to attack manpower - soldiers of the Russian army.
It is difficult to guess what kind of damage a 10 kW combat laser will cause when it hits open or weakly protected parts of the body, especially the face, although many developers of laser weapons have probably studied and classified such options. The eyes will be guaranteed and irrevocably damaged, severe burns to the face are possible, and death is likely.
And there is no need to say that this is prohibited by some kind of convention - the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already used chemical weapons, fired at a nuclear power plant, and in the future they will also use everything at their disposal.
Conclusions
Projects of laser weapons are rapidly evolving. The appearance of the first production models in the armies of the leading countries of the world can be expected in the near future. It cannot be ruled out that laser weapons can be tested by Western countries in the zone of the Russian special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine.
Laser weapons are also being developed in Russia, but information about them is extremely limited. At the end of August 2023, information from the RIA Novosti agency appeared that successful tests of a combat laser designed to destroy unmanned aerial vehicles were carried out at one of the Russian military training grounds.
During testing, an infrared combat laser ensured physical destruction of drones, both aircraft and quadcopter types. In this case, destruction was achieved due to physical damage to the aerodynamic surfaces, hull structures and on-board equipment of the drones, which suggests that the power of the tested laser should presumably be on the order of 5–15 kW or more.
Whether the voiced laser complex refers to the previously announced Zadira or Rat laser weapon systems, or whether it is something else, is unknown.
Laser complex "Rat"
One thing is certain - laser weapons are highly likely to become one of the cornerstones on which the armed forces of the leading countries of the world will be built in the near future, and therefore the development of laser weapons in our country should have a fairly high priority.
Information