Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons

[mgt23]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/ ... eedfetcher

If they ever do manage to go into Iran post march, expect this to be the new weapon rolled out and then Pakistan is next.

The military envisions a future of laser warfare -- ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. It's only a matter of time until the U.S. Army fights terrorists and other enemy combatants with laser beams, engaging in battles seen previously only in movies like 'Starship Troopers' and 'Star Trek.'

The ray gun is real ... or at least it will be soon.

The U.S. Army is betting big on laser warfare -- designing, testing and perfecting ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. And given recent developments, it's only a matter of time until the military has in its arsenal a weapon that until now has been the staple of science fiction -- the ray gun.

Set your phasers to kill.

Boeing, one of the Pentagon's top contractors, already has a laser weapon that will improve the military's ability to counter artillery, mortar, drone aircraft and even rockets, a spokesman tells FoxNews.com.

Boeing's is the highest-profile program of all of the projects under development for the Department of Defense, and last week it took a step closer to reality. At its facility in Huntsville, Ala., Boeing accepted a military truck built by Oshkosh Defense that will carry its laser beam control system into battle.

A military scientist operates a laser in a test environment. The Directorate conducts research on a variety of solid-state and chemical lasers.

The device is the cornerstone of a high-priority U.S. Army project, called the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL-TD), touted as the future of American war, which will enable the military to fight at the speed of light.  

"The system is technically not in production right now," says Marc Selinger, a spokesman for Boeing's missile defense systems unit in suburban Washington, near the Pentagon. "Boeing is building only a demonstrator now ... in this case, a test unit."

That means the project is moving out of the design phase and, with the Oshkosh Heavy Expanded Military Tactical Truck, into production. The eight-wheel, 500-horsepower HEMTT A4, a widely used military tactical vehicle, is being tightly integrated with the Boeing rugged beam control system. Suppliers are already shipping related components to Boeing for assembly.

The weapon will eventually include high-speed processors, optical sensors, and an array of mirrors. Testing of the device's lethal capacity will begin next fiscal year at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In addition to the U.S. Army, Boeing is developing its laser technologies for the Air Force and Navy.

A number of new materials enhance the weapon as well, including sapphire substrates for LEDs, semiconductors, and optics. One Chicago-based supplier, Rubicon Technology, provides components made of sapphire for military lasers and sensors.

Lasers are sensitive devices, yet in combat, they will be used in harsh conditions, including sand and wind storms. Sapphire is the second-hardest material on earth, next to diamonds, "yet they can be free of imperfections and perfectly flat," says Beth Hespe, a spokeswoman for Rubicon. The material helps keep the laser stable -- key to its effectiveness as a weapon.

A Brief History of Laser Guns

For decades, the Army has tried -- and essentially failed -- to develop alternative weapons that target threats before they can reach ground troops. One earlier technology was called the Trophy Active Protection System, which in concept would have fired a shotgun-like blast of pellets at incoming rocket-propelled grenades and antitank missiles.

Scientists now hope that lasers can do what flying metal cannot.

Dissipating the heat laser beams generate is one problem the military has faced in its efforts to weaponize lasers, which new, proprietary technology is overcoming. The technology consists of a laser, a power source and a command and control element. Development of an effective power source -- something that could generate enough energy to destroy incoming projectiles -- has been another key advancement.

At the most fundamental level, laser weapons are based on the concept of delivering a large amount of stored energy from the weapon to the target, thus producing structural and incendiary damage effects. A directed energy weapon delivers its effect at the speed of light, rather than supersonic or subsonic speeds typical of projectile weapons. The lasers basically obliterate their targets.

Many scientific, military, medical and commercial applications have incorporated lasers since their invention in 1958. When the Apollo astronauts landed on the moon, they planted retroreflector arrays to make possible the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment. Laser beams focused through large telescopes on Earth aimed at the arrays, and scientists measured the time the beam took to reflect to determined distances with high accuracy. Military uses of lasers include applications such as targeting and ranging, defensive countermeasures, communications and directed energy weapons.

The military's tech at present is focused on larger, truck-mounted laser guns. But as the technology is honed and miniaturized, its easy to imagine a future with handheld versions of the ray guns -- just like in the movies.

Uses for Laser Beams

Last March, Northrop Grumman announced that its engineers in Redondo Beach, Calif., had successfully built and tested an electric laser capable of producing a 100-kilowatt ray of light, powerful enough to destroy cruise missiles. An electric laser requires much less space for its supporting equipment than a chemical laser, which is powered by a chemical reaction rather than an electrical power source.

Lasers are also being used in radar and radio applications by the military. "They are also playing a leading role in the development of wideband communications -- wideband essentially being a synonym for delivering broadband capability to the battlefield," said Jon Alhart, a spokesman for military contractor Harris Corp. Using lasers and other technologies, the military can set up broadband networks anywhere radios are conventionally out of range. This is accomplished wirelessly, over-the-air, without the assistance of gateways or other ad-hoc networking technologies.

But America's enemies are also exploring laser technology, and the U.S. military is preparing for that too.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) disclosed $2.4 million in new funding for Revision Eyewear in Essex Junction, Vt., to make new lenses to protect soldiers against lasers on the battlefield, according to Jonathan Blansay, CEO of Revision.

And last year, Leahy secured another $3 million contract for laser protective eyewear -- more than $10 million since 2005, said Blansay.

It's only a matter of time until lasers form the backbone of many different aspects of military life, not just warfare.

[abduLMaria]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/12/army-building-ultra-high-power-laser-guns/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fscitech+%2528Text+-+SciTech%2529&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

If they ever do manage to go into Iran post march, expect this to be the new weapon rolled out and then Pakistan is next.

The military envisions a future of laser warfare -- ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. It's only a matter of time until the U.S. Army fights terrorists and other enemy combatants with laser beams, engaging in battles seen previously only in movies like 'Starship Troopers' and 'Star Trek.'

The ray gun is real ... or at least it will be soon.

The U.S. Army is betting big on laser warfare -- designing, testing and perfecting ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. And given recent developments, it's only a matter of time until the military has in its arsenal a weapon that until now has been the staple of science fiction -- the ray gun.

I worked for one of the prime subcontractors for ABL (Space Based Laser).  Not on the ABL, but I spent a few days inside the ABL facility borrowing some electronic measuring capability.

One of the prime contractors is TRW/ Northrop Grumman.  There is a record of fraud on the missile defense programs, which overlaps with ABL - shooting down incoming missiles is one of the primary talking points for ABL & Missile Defense.  "Nira Schwartz" is the name of one TRW scientists who spoke out about the fraud in a Qui Tam (False Claims) lawsuit.

Although the US missile defense is not all that they brag about, the airborne laser/ ray gun technology is something they have worked on steadily, for decades.  which is actually the way to get something done.

I fear that one of the rhythms that determines the timing of Wars is the desire to use the war toys.

For example, during the first Gulf War, they broke out the F-117A (stealth something) for it's first use.  That's the video they played (over and over) of the direct hit.

I have a feeling that one of the things that will determine the timing of an attack on Iran is the deployment schedule of one of the new primary war-toys.

In the case of such an attack, the US & Israel will be testing some new war toys, for sure -
*  Joint Strike Fighter
*  F-22
*  Bunker Buster bombs (conventional explosives)
*  Hybrid nuclear weapons (Depleted Uranium + ?)
*  low output nuclear.

Since the US & Israel will be attacking Iran's alleged nuclear sites, it is natural that there will be some radiation.  I think the US & Israel will use that radiation as a cover for one of their nuclear war toys - they can just blame the radiation on Iran.

I'm not sure exactly what the low output nuclear war toy would be.  By low-output I mean it doesn't make a big mushroom cloud, it doesn't look like a conventional nuclear weapon.  So they can deny the use of nuclear weapons.

However, Russia & China will not be happy about the use of nuclear weapons on their border.

Since the radiation from the second Gulf War was measured as far away as England - which is about 5000 miles away from Iraq - how will Russia & China feel when the US & Israel create a big radio-active dust cloud in their backyard ?

Of course, the US has already done this, via the use of Depleted Uranium in Iraq & Afghanistan.

Long story short, these weapons are truly From Hell.

[mgt23]

Lasers take out the delivery systems of every known counter measure bar another ABL type laser(could even be space or ground based). HARRP I think if it does exist in the form of which some are claiming it can do, could be employed as a defense against a laser sweep. If there was ever a sole control of HARRP by zios in multiple countries they would probably roll out the ABL weapons first. Don't forget that laser can scorch the population of every country. A truly scorched earth policy. I believe the F22 has a laser pod built in does it not?

[sirbadman]

Geez.. the guy who wrote that story must have Rubicon shares or something.. i mean he really hams it up.

From 5mins of looking round all the videos of laser weapons dont actually show the gun when it is supposedly firing.

But in this video there is a nice star wars type laser sound effect:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16675-video-airborne-laser-weapon-sails-through-tests.html

Found this from an old report (2005)

http://www.northropgrumman.com/analysis-center/paper/assets/Operational_Implications_of_La.pdf

Factors that limit laser weapons operational
utility include:
• Atmospheric attenuation and turbulence
• Line-of-sight dependence
• Minimal effects on hardened structures and
armored vehicles
• Single wavelengths that limit the range of
operational conditions in which they are
effective
• Eye safety issues
• Chemical fuels and exhaust

But yeah if the technology has advanced all of a sudden it could be quite scary.

I mean the US military might be wielding light sabers in the next decade, and by that time it might know how to bio engineer an army of yodas.

[mgt23]

Tactical Laser Weapons
http://deathflag.com/viewtopic.php?f=11 ... a04c9825df

and here is the version they were talking about