The Air Force Will Have Combat Lasers On Its War Planes by 2020

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The Air Force Will Have Combat Lasers On Its War Planes by 2020 - by Andrew Tarantola/ engadget.com

"The Army has its HEL-MD (not to mention is working on GI Joe-style rifles and minesweepers); the Navy put a battleship-mounted railgun aboard the USS Ponce; and within the next five years, the Air Force expects to have laser weapons of its very own. These armaments, dubbed directed-energy weapons pods, will be mounted on American warplanes and serve to burn missiles, UAVs -- even other combat aircraft -- clean out of the sky. "I believe we'll have a directed energy pod we can put on a fighter plane very soon," Air Force General Hawk Carlisle said at a Fifth-Generation Warfare lecture during the Air Force Association Air & Space conference earlier this week. "That day is a lot closer than I think a lot of people think it is."..."

According to DARPA's Dr. David Shaver,
The goal of the HELLADS program is to develop a 150 kilowatt (kW) laser weapon system that is ten times smaller and lighter than current lasers of similar power, enabling integration onto tactical aircraft to defend against and defeat ground threats. With a weight goal of less than five kilograms per kilowatt, and volume of three cubic meters for the laser system, HELLADS seeks to enable high-energy lasers to be integrated onto tactical aircraft, significantly increasing engagement ranges compared to ground-based systems.


Richard

 

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Air Force to Have Lasers on Its Fighters by 2020 - by Eric Limer/ Military/ Weapons/ News/ PopularMechanics.com

"Cheap and powerful, directed-energy weapons pods could be mounted on jets just five years from now..."

Some additional specs not included in the previous article.


Richard

 

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The goal of the HELLADS program is to develop a 150 kilowatt (kW) laser weapon system that is ten times smaller and lighter than current lasers of similar power, enabling integration onto tactical aircraft to defend against and defeat ground threats. With a weight goal of less than five kilograms per kilowatt, and volume of three cubic meters for the laser system, HELLADS seeks to enable high-energy lasers to be integrated onto tactical aircraft, significantly increasing engagement ranges compared to ground-based systems.

Whoa! 150kW * 5 kg/kW = 750 kg! That's 1650 lbs! Or 8 tenths of a ton.

And 3 cu. m. = 106 cu. ft. or 792 gallons!

I thought they were supposed to be small and light! I could see something like this on a bomber, but it seems way too large and heavy for fighter aircraft! Think of the fuel you could have instead; i.e., the range you're giving up.

Bob

 

[TUGBrian]

Id always assumed things like these would be mounted on very large cargo planes or large airliner style airframes.

wasnt the first "example" of this (other than the super awesome real genius movie from the 80s) on a 747?

certainly a place for them in unmanned aircraft as the offset weight of not having a pilot and such supporting sytems....guess they will just make much larger drones!

 

[zinger1457]

Whoa! 150kW * 5 kg/kW = 750 kg! That's 1650 lbs! Or 8 tenths of a ton.

And 3 cu. m. = 106 cu. ft. or 792 gallons!

I thought they were supposed to be small and light! I could see something like this on a bomber, but it seems way too large and heavy for fighter aircraft! Think of the fuel you could have instead; i.e., the range you're giving up.

Bob

The payload capacity of the F-35 is 18,000 lbs for some of the configurations.