(clockwise from above) A fiery hole glows from the engine of a now-disabled truck, hinting at the lethal accuracy of Lockheed Martin’s ATHENA laser weapon system. Boeing’s High-Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator, which aims to refine a rugged, mobile solid-state laser system for the Army, uses a 10-kilowatt laser mounted on a customized heavy expanded mobility tactical truck; the laser can be directed by an Xbox game controller. Rear Adm. Peter A. Gumataotao, commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, operates the LaWS installed on board USS Ponce (AFSB[I]-15).
militarily useful effect at relatively low cost,” according to Chernesky. Using commercial off-the-shelf lasers, whose development costs already had been borne by industry, kept down the price and greatly reduced the time between the pro- gram’s genesis and the production of a working prototype. The LaWS system first was test- ed at the White Sands, N.M., High Energy Laser Systems Test Facil- ity (HELSTF) in 2009 and again in 2010 at a simulated maritime environment at San Nicolas Island, Calif., with impressive results. In 2013, the system was mounted on the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105), where it suc- cessfully destroyed a series of un- manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and fast boats. Since September 2014, LaWS has been tested on board USS Ponce (AFSB[I]-15) in the Persian Gulf. The system has performed so well the Navy has given Ponce’s captain per- mission to
use the laser against any threats the ship might encounter. This is the first time a directed-energy weapon has been deployed. The Office of Naval Research currently is work- ing with Northrup Grumman on a laser-weapon-system demonstra- tor that will bump LaWS’ 15-to- 50-kilowatt (kW) capability up to a scorching 150 kW.
Test, tweak, test again The Army went through its own chemical laser development pro- gram but switched to solid-state units once they became available. Prototypes are tested at HELSTF using the Solid-State Laser Test Bed (SSLT), which is “used to col- lect high-energy laser lethality and beam propagation data,” says Rich- ard Da Fatta, acting director of the U.S. Army Space and Missile De- fense Command Technical Center. “The SSLT is also capable of conducting demonstrations against in-flight targets to help verify data [CONTINUES ON PAGE 75]
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88