I am not talking Sci-Fi, I am talking about the real thing, not some bumbling joking translation.
Lasers have already been used as rangefinders and guidance for decades. Lasers have been used to blind/jam IR seekers for a long time. We killed the first ATA missile with an airborne missile in the 70s or 80s. It is just a matter of time before it is practical to fit on a fighter.
I wouldn’t make too much fun of soviets either, I think they shot down a full size aircraft with a ground-based laser back in the 70s.
The Airborne Laser Lab was a gas-dynamic laser mounted in a modified version of a KC-135 used for flight testing. Similar to the commercial Boeing 707, the slightly smaller KC-135 was designed to military specifications and operated at hight gross weights. The NKC-135A (S/N 55-3123) is one of 14 KC-135As permanently converted for special testing. It was extensively modified by the Air Force weapons Labratory at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, and used in an 11-year experiment to prove a high-energy laser could be operated in an aircraft and employed against airborne targets. During the experiment, the Airborne Laser Lab destroyed five AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and a Navy BQM-34A target drone.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=787
http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/all.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/all.htm
Ground based laser THEL
http://www.defense-update.com/directory/THEL.htm
It could very well be the first laser they put on the JSF is an IR jammer version, however I was under the impression it was suppose to be a (limited) “kill laser” for missiles and aircraft. I wouldn’t be surprised if it already has a jammer laser.
U.S. F-35 Fighter May Be Armed with Laser (2002)
Directed Energy Weapon Would Complement Precision Munitions
Attack at the Speed of Light (2002)
http://www.afa.org/magazine/dec2002/1202attack.asp
Toward A New Laser Era (2006)
http://www.afa.org/magazine/June2006/0606laser.html
It sounds like there is no funding yet and nothing is cast in stone.
JHPSSL
Possibly might be incorporated into a future version of the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) F-35
Joint High Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) Program
Designed to accelerate solid-state laser technology for military uses, the JHPSSL program is funded by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, Ala; Office of the Secretary of Defense – Joint Technology Office, Albuquerque; Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.; and the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va.
Under the current phase (Phase 3), the program’s goal is for a laser system to reach 100 kW, setting the stage for a variety of force protection and strike missions such as shipboard defense against cruise missiles; wide-area, ground-based defense against rockets, artillery, and mortars; and precision strike missions for airborne platforms.
Northrop Grumman surpassed a critical milestone on the JHPSSL 2 program when it demonstrated a laser system with a total power of greater than 27 kW with a run time of 350 seconds.
Northrop Grumman’s approach utilizes amplifier chains assembled with multiple high-power gain modules. The company’s JHPSSL demonstrator used two chains to demonstrate the 27 kW level achieved during Phase 2. Avoiding the need for new physics or scaling, the company’s 100 kW architecture uses eight chains, very similar to those used in its 27 kW device.
JHPSSL Phase 1 addressed risk reduction of the technologies necessary to obtain high power and beam quality simultaneously. Phase 2 took these technologies and scaled them to greater than 25 kW, and showed further scalability to 100 kW and beyond.
Other possible versions
http://www.st.northropgrumman.com/capabilities/directed_energy_syst/laser_systems/solid_state_lasers/solid_state_lasers.html
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October 1, 2007 at 4:57 am