Laser Weapons Closing In on Reality

Are we actually starting to close in on laser weapons? Could be. For years, ray gun researchers have been saying that 100 kilowatts is the minimum power required for battlefield-strength blasters -- a level that hasn't been hit (yet). But Navy officials now claim they've got the makings of a workable ray gun that uses only a fraction of that power.

In a presentation and white paper

given last week at a meeting of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Captain David Kiel said that lasers using as little as 10 and 20 kilowatts were used to blast mortars and zap small watercraft. Neither the Navy -- nor its corporate partner, Raytheon -- is saying exactly how they pulled it off. But the key, according to Kiel, is fiber lasers, which (to oversimplify) use optical threads -- instead of crystal slabs or vats of chemicals -- as the ray's power source. They're considered some of the simplest kinds of lasers to use -- and to combine into even stronger beams.

In a proof-of-principle demonstration of a fiber laser at Sandia National Laboratory in June 2006, Raytheon destroyed mortar rounds, at ranges of interest, using a commercially purchased fiber laser, thus showing the effectiveness of this type of laser, with low beam quality, against targets of interest. Furthermore, in late summer of 2006, a series of static field tests conducted at NSWC [Naval Surface Warfare Center] Crane, Indiana, against a variety of missile seekers at tactically significant range, demonstrated again the reliability and utility of a commercial fiber laser. These demonstrations validated the lethality model and engagement simulation and paved the way to a deployable near-term fiber laser weapon.

But these weren't just isolated tests, Capt. Kiel, with Naval Sea
Systems Command, insists. By fiscal year 2009, he believes he can have a fiber laser-powered version of the Phalanx mortar-shooting system -- already deployed in Iraq -- ready to demonstrate.

In the fiber laser arena, there is a focus on near-term weapon system demonstration instead of development of laser device capabilities. For these demonstrations, the development time span is 2-4 years and concentration is on the use of commercially available lasers (COTS) to augment existing weapon systems capabilities. Emerging program plans involve replacing the Gatling gun in a Phalanx mount and working to improve both laser beam quality and laser output power for a demonstrator system which is currently called Laser Weapon System
(LaWS). The primary objective of the LaWS Program is near-term transition of the laser weapon to the warfighter. Its shipboard missions include addressing threats such as
the asymmetric threat among several others, The LaWS Program plans development of a weapon system starting in mid FY 2008 and culminating with a demonstration of capability in FY 2009.

Of course, shooting down mortars is only the beginning, if the Navy can get this right. In the long term, the service is much more concerned about a new generation of anti-ship cruise missiles.
The things move so fast, it might take a speed-of-light weapon -- like a laser -- to knock 'em out.

(High five: Inside the Navy)