F-35 High Energy Laser

[neptune]

[quote="spazsinbad...."First, lasers would go on a KC-130. Then they would strive to shrink the laser and its power source and only then put it on F-35s, Cobras and other combat aircraft...."...[/quote]

F-135 160KWe
B-787 1.5Mwe

May2015 "ALADIN combines the output of several fiber lasers, each with a slightly different wavelength, into a single 30-kW beam." (from approximately a 20' shipping container)..."a February 2014 poll of US national-security specialists found that just one-fifth believed that directed-energy weapon technologies would be mature within a decade."

...maybe in the next 30 years for the F-35, a laser in some form will step up from today's 160KWe and become an effective weapons system, I hope!

[popcorn]

A2A Missiles were not "mature" in the '60s but that didn't prevent them from being deployed and changing the air combat paradigm.

[spazsinbad]

Why the USMC is interested in lasers in quotation below otherwise story similar to one above - from same GEN. source.

Official: Marine Corps Could Equip F-35B with Laser Weapon
30 Aug 2016 Yasmin Tadjdeh

"...“It’s very important. It’s where we want to go,” he said. Lasers will lighten the Corps' loads by reducing the amount of energy, powder and kinetic ordnance it must carry into the field, he said.

The service is currently working alongside the Office of Naval Research on the ground-based air defense directed energy on-the-move program, he said. The goal of that effort is to mount a high-energy laser on a vehicle.

“The ‘on-the-move’ piece is trying to get it onto a vehicle that we can maneuver with," he said. ONR has demonstrated a 10-kilowatt laser and the intent is to move to a 30-kilowatt laser, he added. The system could be used against enemy unmanned aerial vehicles, he said...."

Source: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/ ... px?ID=2286

[SpudmanWP]

The F-35's superb SA combined with the ability to take out missiles, SAMs, mortars, arty, snipers, sappers, IED placement teams, uavs, etc for "free" (ie fuel for the electricity only) is an obvious advantage, especially in the CAS role.

[neptune]

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... on-429129/

AFRL prepares to unveil 20-year propulsion vision

...For combat aircraft in the mid-2030s, the basic architecture is not going to work, according to the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Plans to insert laser weapons into future fighters and armed drones will overwhelm power and thermal management capacity...

“In some ways, you’re going to ask the engine to do things they haven’t been asked to do before,” says Chuck Cross, the AFRL’s chief of the Turbine Engine Division.

This re-imagining of the aircraft propulsion system will require a series of innovations extending well beyond the jet engine itself. That is why Cross will appear on 12 September at the Turbine Engine Technology Symposium in Dayton, Ohio, to unveil a new 20-year plan to drive several key advances in jet engine technology.

In the AFRL’s vision, the architecture of the jet engine for military aircraft will change dramatically over the next two decades. Bypass ratios will ebb and flow depending on mission need. Key elements of the compressor will change shape in mid-flight, reshaping the air flow as it is squeezed in route to the combustor. Electrical power could be extracted from low-pressure and high-pressure compressor sections, feeding energy to power-hungry lasers and advanced sensors. The heat created by that power will be stored in newly-created systems, such as electrical accumulators or wax-based heat exchangers.


note* several current proposals have a goal in 2025 of 100KW lasers in the F-35 with the F-135 currently generating 160KW total electrical power for existing systems.

...jet stuff at the jump...

[sferrin]

"That is why Cross will appear on 12 September at the Turbine Engine Technology Symposium in Dayton, Ohio, to unveil a new 20-year plan to drive several key advances in jet engine technology."

The Chinese will probably be streaming it live.

[uclass]

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-afrl-prepares-to-unveil-20-year-propulsion-429129/

Article not found?

[SpudmanWP]

Google flightglobal 429129 and then look at the cached version

[spazsinbad]

Entire? article posted by 'neptune' here in ENGINES sub-section: viewtopic.php?f=56&t=52320&p=352362&hilit=propulsion#p352362

[taog]

http://aviationweek.com/awindefense/gen ... aser-demos

Who can see this article? i don't have the access Orz lolllllllllllll

[spazsinbad]

AvWEAK needs your subscription BUT NOT MINE to read this stuff but anyway there are clues at the URL.

U.S. Air Force To Pick Laser For ‘SHiELD’ Fighter Demo
31 Jul 2017 James Drew

"SHiELD laser could protect fighters... U.S. Air Combat Command (ACC) believes one answer is high-power laser weapons capable of intercepting incoming enemy missiles at the speed of light..."

Source: http://aviationweek.com/aviation-week-s ... ghter-demo

[eloise]

I wonder what would be main criteria for fighter when laser weapons become popular

[SpudmanWP]

reflectivity

[spazsinbad]

Mirror Mirror on the wall: who's the fairest of them all?

[mor10]

From above mentioned article:

U.S. Air Combat Command (ACC) believes one answer is high-power laser weapons capable of intercepting incoming enemy missiles at the speed of light. The command has backed a five-year advanced technology demonstration by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) that will equip a Boeing F-15 with a high-energy laser pod.

The AFRL Self-protect High-Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) is one of more than $3 billion worth of laser weapons programs being funded by the U.S. government through 2021.

The directed-energy division at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, has already selected Boeing for the laser pod and Northrop Grumman for the beam control system. Now AFRL is on the cusp of selecting a high-power laser source for eventual flight testing.

SHiELD program manager Richard Bagnell tells Aviation Week that the contract for the Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE) program will be awarded within the next several months. The winner will “design, fabricate and deliver a reliable, ruggedized high-power laser with excellent beam quality and compact design” for ground and flight testing at subsonic, transonic and potentially supersonic speeds, says the government’s broad agency announcement.

SHiELD has allocated $35 million for high-power laser development in fiscal 2017-21, peaking at $11 million in fiscal 2019 ahead of planned ground and flight testing. Northrop received a $47 million contract on Aug. 23, 2016, for development and demonstration of the beam control system, which must overcome the aero-optical and aero-mechanical disturbances of the supersonic regime. A key challenge will be directing an intercept-quality beam through the fighter’s hot, turbulent wake.

For Boeing’s $90 million contract awarded Dec. 15, 2016, for a ruggedized, laser-ready pod, it will work through challenging power supply and thermal management issues, as well as provide fire control and operator interface onboard the F-15.

Bagnell says the Phase 1 program with Boeing and Northrop culminates in a low-power laser demonstration of the pod and beam control system to prove the system can track and intercept a target.

The laser selected for Phase 2 will be integrated later. The LANCE winner has 36 months from contract award to deliver a flight-ready laser, with ground testing starting at 39 months and high-power flight-testing within 48 months, a notional schedule. The entire demonstration program runs five years.

ACC backed the SHiELD laser demo following a 2014 study into high-energy applications for future air dominance. The study concluded there is near-term potential for lasers as self-protection in high-threat environments. If the technology proves itself, it might be integrated with a future fighter platform, such as the sixth-generation Penetrating Counter-Air.

Bagnell is under no illusions about the project’s challenges. The F-15 was chosen over a roomier widebody aircraft because lasers have greater operational utility for self-protection. Fighters are fast, agile, must operate deep within enemy territory and are responsible for suppressing and destroying enemy air defenses as well as protecting large and vulnerable support assets, such as refueling tankers and early warning jets.

“What we’re learning is that slab and fiber lasers can be compacted to a point where they could be useful on a small platform, like a fighter aircraft,” Bagnell says.

SHiELD must be capable of recharging in flight and performing at least 15 shots per sortie. With hundreds of kilowatts generated and stored per shot, flight safety is an extreme concern. An operational laser pod might be slung under the wing alongside other munitions and stores, or embedded in the body for aerodynamic efficiency or to maintain a low radar cross-section. “If safety requirements mean we must be able to jettison the pod, we’ll jettison the pod. But it will be an expensive pod to jettison,” Bagnell says.

He says safety during recharging is a concern, but the SHiELD team will take extra precautions to ensure any laser systems installed on the F-15 or future fighters are safe. “The whole point is to defend that aircraft, not pose a risk to it,” Bagnell adds.

SHiELD builds on the success of General Atomics’ ground-based 150-kW-class High-Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System, which was delivered to the government in late 2015 and has completed high-power testing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

There are several other U.S. efforts to integrate high-power lasers on aircraft. The Missile Defense Agency’s Low-Power Laser Demonstrator is maturing directed-energy technology for deployment on a stratospheric UAV, with the goal of shooting down rogue missiles in their ascent phase.

The Army partnered with Raytheon to flight-test a laser pod on a Boeing AH-64 Apache gunship, hitting a stationary target at a slant range of 0.9 mi. Air Force Special Operations Command wants to conduct a high-power laser demonstration from an AC-130 gunship.

With so many programs springing up in recent years, the Pentagon is aligning efforts with a long-term directed-energy road map. Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, principal deputy director of the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, says $673 million has been allocated for high-energy laser development in this year’s defense budget, with a total $3.4 billion allocated across five years. “We wanted to make sure it’s going to efforts that are resulting in filling a gap or void we have, with true concepts of operation,” Heithold says.