Wednesday, December 30, 2009
High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (photo: Boeing)
Once little more than a Buck Rogers-like dream of the military’s when President Ronald Reagan unveiled his “Star Wars” plan, lasers may become an actual weapon employed on the battlefield to destroy the enemy within a couple of years. While lasers are currently used to guide bombs to their targets, new high-energy beams in development would have the capability of shooting down aircraft or burning through the surfaces of ground vehicles.
Three branches of the armed forces are working on their own laser programs. The U.S. Air Force is testing its Advanced Tactical Laser, designed to be fired from a C-130 Hercules at targets below. The U.S. Navy is working on the Free Electron Laser which it hopes will defend ships from high-speed cruise missiles. And the U.S Army has two programs: the Laser Avenger, for blowing up improvised explosive devices before they can harm soldiers; and the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator, which is intended to destroy incoming rockets, mortars and artillery shells. Boeing’s Directed Energy Systems has contracts to develop many of these lasers.
The military likes the idea of using lasers because their light-speed capability can respond faster to threats or attacks than conventional weapons. The drawback to such weapons is their vulnerability to inclement weather or dusty conditions.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Military Working to Unleash Laser Weapons (by Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes)
Directed Energy Systems (Boeing) (pdf)
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