Airborne Megawatt-Class Combat Lasers: Who Will Be First – the US or Russia?
Difficulties with development
Laser development cycle times weapons and the lack of serial models instills pessimism in the hearts of those interested in the development of new weapons, but there is nothing surprising about this.
The fact is that laser weapons - directed energy weapons - are a fundamentally new milestone in the development of weapons. Those involved in the development and production of weapons know how long it often takes to develop and put into serial production even relatively well-established weapons models, let alone something fundamentally new.
As an example, we can cite our non-nuclear submarines of Project 677 "Lada", export modifications of which within the framework of the "Amur-1650" family were offered for export in the magazine "Military Parade" back in 1999, but we have not yet seen either the "Lada" or the "Amur" in production.
Or take the American destroyer DDG-1000 Zumwalt, the first of which was launched in 2013, but has not yet begun combat service. And we can also recall the problems with re-motoring American strategic bombers B-52H and much, much more.
We have Lada, they have Zamvolt...
However, there is progress in the development of laser weapons, for example, according to a report from the US Navy press service on February 5 of this year, during tests conducted in 2024, the HELIOS laser installation with a capacity of 150 kilowatts (kW), placed on board the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble, successfully hit an air target at a distance of 8 kilometers.
And laser air defense systems (Defense) DE M-SHORAD is already being used by the US Armed Forces (AF), we had previously even considered the possibility that The US may decide to conduct field tests of the DE M-SHORAD complex in the SVO zone in Ukraine.
Destroyer USS Preble and DE M-SHORAD complex
It can be assumed that the required power of combat lasers in the given weight and size characteristics has already been achieved, and the problem lies in the transition from prototypes to serial ones - in ensuring the necessary simplicity and ease of operation of such complexes not by professors and doctors of science from the developer companies, but by ordinary fighters, albeit highly qualified.
The problem is that serial models of laser weapons are only just beginning to appear, and aviation carriers do not have them at all yet. So now we are talking only about experimental samples of laser weapons, and to begin with, let's remember what kind of combat lasers can be placed on aircraft carriers?
Aircraft carriers
Aircraft carriers of laser weapons can be conditionally divided into strategic and tactical.
Strategic lasers include combat lasers placed on transport aircraft, the power of such lasers can reach several megawatts. Tactical lasers, respectively, include tactical aircraft and helicopters. The power of combat lasers considered for use on tactical carriers is tens to hundreds of kilowatts.
In general, we have already talked about the prospects of using laser weapons on combat aircraft, back in 2019, in the article "Laser Weapons: Prospects in the Air Force"Since then, no significant progress has been noticed in this direction.
As for tactical aircraft, we can expect the appearance of integrated laser self-defense systems on sixth-generation aircraft, as well as suspended container laser self-defense systems on previous-generation aircraft. Of course, the capabilities of container systems will be inferior to integrated systems, primarily due to the fact that existing aircraft and helicopters are not equipped with power take-off equipment from turbojet engines (TRD) - generators capable of providing powerful lasers with the necessary electrical energy.
[One of the key differences between promising weapons systems is the ability to provide electricity to multiple consumers, including laser weapons.
It can be assumed that first of all Laser weapons to be installed on newest US strategic bomber B-21 RaiderAt a minimum, this machine should have the ability to install laser weapons and the ability to take power from the turbojet engine to electric generators.
It can be assumed that the power of the laser self-defense weapon on the B-21 Raider bomber will be in the region of 100-150 kW, with the prospect of increasing to 300-500 kW, which will provide this aircraft with high protection against missiles "air-to-air" and anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) with a range of several tens of kilometers.
Well, and finally, let's talk about specialized laser weapon systems placed on transport aircraft, which can already be conditionally classified as strategic, capable of operating at a range of hundreds of kilometers.
Megawatt class
In the US, this was the Boeing YAL-1 project, which included a Boeing 747 aircraft equipped with a chemical laser with a working fluid based on oxygen and metallic iodine. The expected power of such a laser was about one megawatt, with the potential to increase to five megawatts. The project was shut down primarily due to the complexity and danger of working with a chemical oxygen-iodine laser, as well as the high cost of the chemical components needed to produce the "shot".
In Russia, there was an experimental flying laboratory A-60 (complex 1LK222) based on the Il-76MD aircraft and the RD-0600 gas-dynamic laser weighing 760 kilograms, which was supposed to be used on the Skif combat orbital station, and which by 2011 had passed a full cycle of tests. Two AI-0600 turbojet engines weighing 24 kilograms each are used to pump the RD-600 gas-dynamic laser. The power of the RD-0600 gas-dynamic laser at the initial stage was 100 kW.
The A-60 experimental flying laboratory (left) and the Boeing YAL-1 (right)
Both chemical and gas-dynamic lasers are quite an “ancient” technology, it is believed that modern lasers powered by electric energy are more promising, for example, solid-state lasers, including their special case – fiber lasers, in the USA they are currently being developed. As for Russia, everything is more complicated here – information on the creation of our own solid-state or fiber lasers of the multi-kilowatt class in our country is practically absent, previously demonstrated complexes such as “Zadira” have not yet shown themselves anywhere, information about them has not been disseminated – there are not even reliable images of this complex.
In the material "Directed energy weapons have arrived on the battlefield" Among other things, we considered the mobile laser complex (MLC), created by specialists from the Troitsk Institute of Innovation and Thermonuclear Research (JSC RF SRC TRINITI) and designed for clearing areas of trees and shrubs in the area of power transmission lines (PTL), cutting metal structures, and other similar applications.
Judging by the images, the MLC uses a 20000 kW YLS-20-CT ytterbium fiber laser produced by the American company with Russian roots IPG Photonics, so its use for military purposes is impossible.
MLK produced by JSC "SSC RF TRINITY". Image triniti.ru
There are no fewer questions about the combat laser complex (BLK) "Peresvet" - we previously considered possible options for its implementation in the material “Secrets of the Peresvet complex: how does the Russian laser sword work?”There are only three options considered - modern lasers (solid-state/fiber/liquid) powered by electrical power sources, gas-dynamic and chemical lasers, or nuclear-pumped lasers.
Based on current realities, the most likely version is that a gas-dynamic laser is installed on the Peresvet BLK - this technology was most developed in Russia, and then in the USSR. Until now, there is no reliable information about the capacity of the Peresvet BLK, in most cases the range of assumptions varies from 1 megawatt (MW) to 5 MW.
Back in the 70s, the USA tested a laser complex based on the NKC-135A flying laboratory equipped with a gas-dynamic laser, the power of which at the initial stage was 30-60 kW, and by 1978 it was increased to 400 kW. Around the same time, in 1975, the Chemical Automation Design Bureau (JSC KBKhA) created a gas-dynamic laser based on the RD-0600 laser with a total gas mixture consumption of up to 100 kilograms per second and a radiation power of up to 600 kW.
Gas-dynamic laser RD-0600. Image kbkha.ru
Considering when this development was made, it would not be too optimistic to assume that the power of the gas-dynamic laser from the Peresvet BLK is about one megawatt or more.
Aviation version of the BLK "Peresvet-A"
After the Peresvet BLK was announced, information began to periodically appear in open sources that the A-60 program would be revived, and an airborne combat laser complex (ABLC) would be created on the basis of the Peresvet BLK, and this information came from top officials in the Russian Ministry of Defense.
We previously discussed the possibility of creating such a complex and the tasks it could potentially solve in the article "Aviation version of the combat laser complex "Peresvet": carriers, targets, tactics of use".
For example, the possibility of forming a promising combat aviation group designed to create a highly stable A2AD (anti-access and area denial) zone to limit and deny access and maneuver to enemy aircraft was considered. The specified group was to include the Peresvet-A ABLC, the A-100 Premier long-range radar aircraft (AEW), two to four Su-57 multifunctional fighters, and possibly the S-70 Okhotnik UAV.
It was assumed that the Peresvet-A anti-aircraft missile system would be able to hit enemy aircraft at a distance of 250-300 kilometers, while being outside the zone of return fire from air-to-air missiles, representing the core of the group.
By the way, such a group would be very useful in the area of a special military operation in Ukraine – then the enemy’s aircraft would not even come close to the combat contact line (CCL), and the enemy’s aircraft would use Storm Shadow cruise missiles at the maximum distance from the CCL, limiting the range of their use against targets on our territory.
In March 2020, PJSC Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex named after G.M. Beriev patented the design of an aircraft carrying laser weapons, developing the concept of the A-60 laboratory.
The available images show that the laser emitter dome in the latest version of the patent is located in the front part of the aircraft, right behind the cockpit. The Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft still serves as a base; in fact, we don’t have any other options yet and don’t expect any.
The location of the laser radiation output window clearly indicates that this complex is designed to work on targets located in the upper hemisphere, that is, on enemy satellites. The laser itself is the responsibility of NPO Almaz, which has been developing a new type of laser weapon for 40 years.
It can also be assumed that work on the Peresvet-A ABLK (we don’t have another name yet) has most likely been suspended given the military operations taking place in relative proximity to the Beriev Aircraft Company.
Conclusions
The article does not answer the question: who will be the first to create a megawatt-class combat laser, serially deployed on aircraft carriers - the USA or Russia?
In fact, the US already had an experimental megawatt-class laser on an aircraft carrier, created within the framework of the Boeing YAL-1 project, while the Russian experimental flying laboratory A-60, apparently, was closer to the American flying laboratory NKC-135A. At the same time, the Boeing YAL-1 project was curtailed - the US, however, like other leading countries of the world, rejected chemical and gas-dynamic lasers in favor of modern lasers operating on electrical energy.
In the long term, this will undoubtedly give them an advantage in this area, but at present it is apparently impossible to create an offensive megawatt-class laser based on solid-state or fiber lasers. However, the US is already moving towards this value, having reached the 500 kW mark on a ground-based experimental complex. It can be assumed that a laser with a power of one megawatt or more can be created by American companies and placed on a transport aircraft as a prototype within five years and as a serial model within ten years.
It can also be assumed that in Russia, a conventional ABLC Peresvet with a gas-dynamic laser with a power of about one megawatt, with the intensification of work in this direction, can be created in approximately comparable time frames - an experimental sample in 5 years and a serial product in 10 years, with the only difference being that the technology of gas-dynamic lasers is outdated.
However, from a practical point of view, gas-dynamic lasers are quite functional and even have certain advantages over their high-tech counterparts.
Let's see where the laser weapons race takes us, we will return to this topic many times in the future, since, apparently, "star wars" are just around the corner.
Information