Old news but worthwhile to note:
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US Navy deploys laser weapon system that’s fired with ‘video game-like controller’
By Sebastian Anthony on April 10, 2014 at 10:15 am28 Comments
The US Navy has announced that it is moving ahead with plans to deploy the first ever combat laser weapon. Late this summer, USS Ponce — a fairly unextraordinary amphibious ship (pictured above) — will be outfitted with the Laser Weapon System (LaWS). LaWS will be put through some at-sea testing in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, after which it will be capable of shooting down drones or disabling small attack boats (including suicide bombing missions) at an energy cost of just $1 per shot. Rather fittingly for a futuristic weapons system, LaWS will be fired using a “video game-like controller.”
I’ve always wondered, ever since that glorious moment in my childhood where I discovered Star Trek, when laser weapons would finally become a reality. Now, some 60 years after lasers were first discovered, it’s actually going to happen.
There are some really good reasons for why it’s taken this long, mind you. To deliver a killing blow, rather than just being a nuisance laser pointer, you need a laser that’s roughly 100 kilowatts. Generating that kind of power quickly and repeatedly is difficult, especially when you’re out at sea or flying through the air. This is why our weapons are generally powered by liquid fuels, solid explosives, and nuclear warheads: They create a massive amount of energy very quickly, while still being very compact. It’s also very hard to push a high-powered laser through air (rather than a vacuum or along fiber optics) without it “blooming” (i.e. turning the air to plasma and dissipating/defocusing the laser’s energy).
Oh, and there’s the small matter of targeting: Laser weapons, by definition, have a very small target. If you point a laser weapon at an incoming aircraft, it won’t spontaneously explode like a Michael Bay movie — rather, the laser will just bore a hole through the hull, possibly causing a small localized fire. So, lasers can be used to disable an engine, or to destroy an important sensor — but to do so requires good knowledge of the design/layout of the incoming attack weapon/vehicle, and a very accurate targeting system (hard, when you’re moving through the water and waves are bouncing you up and down). For more details on the science of beam weapons, read our extensive feature on the topic.
With LaWS, the US Navy hasn’t quite worked out the energy requirement issue (it will only fire with a power of around 15-50 kilowatts), but it does seem to have figured out the targeting/tracking issue. LaWS will work with the Phalanx CIWS, a ship-mounted radar system that tracks incoming missiles and aircraft (and then attempts to shoot them out of the sky with a Minigun). The Phalanx will pass targets to the LaWS, and then a weapons officer will pick up a “video game-like controller” to pick a power setting and finally fire the weapon. The laser, in case you’re wondering, is an infrared solid-state device built by Kratos. The laser has enough power to down a drone, a small boat, or to cripple the sensors of a target — but beyond that, it can’t do much.
Moving forward, assuming LaWS’s at-sea tests are successful, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) will push ahead with more advanced laser systems that will be mounted on littoral (close-to-shore) combat ships and can shoot down guided missiles. Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, and Raytheon will all be developing a next-gen laser weapon system, with testing expected to begin in 2016.
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KTOS
