The u.s air force research lab has begun
building a pod-mounted laser weapon
designed to keep friendly aircraft safe
from enemy missiles, the self-protect
high-energy laser demonstrator or shield. the pond is under construction at
Kirtland air force base, New Mexico.
If successful one of SHiELD's descendants will protect older air force fighters tankers and surveillance aircraft from missile attacks.
The SHiELD pod which the air force worked on with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, will consist of
three major subsystems including the pod
itself, the laser and beam control air
force research laboratory received the
pod this month and the two remaining
subsystems will arrive later this year.
ahead of putting experimental directed
energy weapons onto its fighter jets, the US air force is testing how these
systems will operate at high speed and
high altitude, by trialing them in wind
tunnels equipping fighters with directed
energy or de weapons which use
high-energy lasers or microwaves to
engage threats is a long-standing air
force submission.
But one that has
suffered from some well-documented
delays, the latest Wintel work may help
address some of the problems encountered
so far.
Missiles dominate modern air-to-air
combat aircraft are at risk from
air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. Both of which fly at Mach 2.5 in order
to catch up to and intercept planes. These missiles fly too fast for
conventional guns to reliably track and
destroy them. particularly since an
outgoing projectile is subject to wind, gravity, and other factors.
Lasers however are immune to many of the
problems afflicting conventional guns, lasers don't fly a ballistic profile but
rather travel at 186.000 miles per
second in a perfectly straight line, an
aircraft-mounted laser would also have
an unlimited number of
shots.
The SHiELD is a tech demonstrator
meaning it will never see combat but if
it's successful it will eventually lead
to a pod-mounted laser for other us air
force aircraft, older fighters like the F-15 and F-16 could strap on laser pods
for active protection for missiles.
Meanwhile, transports like the C-17
Globemaster III tankers like the KC-135 Stratotanker and kc-46 pegasus and even
airborne warning and control planes like
the E3 sentry could have the means to
shoot down enemy missiles for the first
time.
The air force expects to conduct a full
test of the shield laser pod in 2023. Meanwhile, there has been some progress
made by using a ground-based solid-state
laser known as the demonstrator laser
weapon system (DLWS) as a surrogate for SHiELD.
In this way, DLWS has proved its
ability to shoot down a number of
year-launched missiles over the white
sands missile range in New Mexico.
Although ground-based laser systems are
generally more mature than their
airborne counterparts it's worth noting
that the DLWS is described as being in
the tens of kilowatts class, while Lockheed Martin martin has already delivered a 60-kilowatt class laser weapon system to
the US army.
US army to test new microwave weapon for
defeating drones
The US Army will conduct field testing
of a new microwave weapon designed to
protect military bases from incoming
drones as early as 2023, following an
on-site demonstration at Kirtland air
force base in New Mexico, four which
stands for tactical high power
operational responder was built at
Kirkland FB and provides protection
against multiple targets that
simultaneously threaten military
installations.
Army lieutenant general Neil Thurgood
said he watched the weapons system on
the base earlier this month and that the
service's investment in microwave and
laser weapons addresses a growing
problem that requires new tools to
defend troops and infrastructure.
The army's directed energy capabilities
will need to provide a layered defense
with multiple ways to defeat incoming
threats.
Thurgood said high-energy lasers
kill one target at a time, and
high-powered microwaves can kill groups
or swarms which is why we are pursuing a
combination of both technologies.
Head of
the air force research laboratory's
directed energy directorate bill
thor, said the army plans to invest as a
partner starting in October and begin
field testing by 2023.
They intend to procure enough systems
for a platoon unit in 2023 to do
experimentation with a mix of weapons. they will put microwaves and lasers
together in a single unit to assess how
to deploy it all.
The laboratories spent
15 million dollars to build for in
cooperation with Albuquerque-based
engineering firm varus research as well
as be systems and Latos, it first
demonstrated the system in 2019.
The
microwave system works like a flashlight, using a wave that spreads out to disable
anything within its electromagnetic cone. This system output is powerful radio
bursts, which offer greater engagement
range than bullets or nets and its
effects are silent and instantaneous.
