Solid State Laser News

bobbymike said:
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/09/tomorrows-laser-armed-helicopter-drones/131665/?oref=d-mostread

A low performance craft isn't survivable in a A2AD environment. In permissive environments one doesn't need unmanned.

An unmanned tiltrotor isn't survivable either. The idea is to clear the path for V-22. These things clear the path to the crash site.

Large PGMs carrying DEWs are meat skeet as well.
 
Quite a step down from this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRWhs-lakY
 
https://www.abqjournal.com/866630/kirtlands-air-force-lab-awards-39m-for-laser-equipped-jets.html
 
bobbymike said:
https://www.abqjournal.com/866630/kirtlands-air-force-lab-awards-39m-for-laser-equipped-jets.html

Hopefully it isn't another case of, "works with flying colors so rather than deploy it we're going to go back to the labs for another decade to think about it" like they're doing with railguns. ::)
 
I wouldn't characterize the Navy's railgun program that way at all.
 
Moose said:
I wouldn't characterize the Navy's railgun program that way at all.

There was an article a while back that said essentially that. They're not going to deploy the one on a ship for testing like they talked about for example.
 
sferrin said:
There was an article a while back that said essentially that. They're not going to deploy the one on a ship for testing like they talked about for example.
They're changing the plan for testing the weapon, or more accurately they're debating changing it, but they aren't putting it on the back burner by any means. Hang around any senior Navy people right now and you'll hear Railgun come up quite a bit, it is undoubtedly a priority. The change in plan being debated right now is whether to go ahead with placing a temporary, not fully realized railgun mount on an EFV (Trenton) next year to demonstrate firing at sea or to move directly to mounting a turret which features most of the bells and whistles of an operational weapon system to the third Zumwalt in place of an AGS ,and using that ship for testing/developing further.
 
Thanks. Any word on US Army plans? And how's that work anyway? There is the BAE railgun and General Atomics railgun, and it seems that BAE is leaning more USN with GA the US Army but damned if I know which service wants to do what with which gun. ???
 
My pleasure, Sferrin

The Army and GA are teaming up to tinker with the Blitzer mainly so BAE can concentrate on the Navy's program and GA can keep their railgun team alive, not due to any specific performance from either team. Both the Navy and Army would likely have to compete their final weapon systems anyway, so its in their best interest to keep both teams going. Army's also testing the HVP in their 155s, since all it needs to do so is a sabot matched to their guns.

Army goals seem more focused on Air and Missile Defense, especially as it relates to the Pacifc, though the "steel rain" tactics of the Russian army in Ukraine has brought the Artillery arm's desire for better NLOS fires roaring back toward the limelight.
 
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/revealed-the-us-army-going-all-out-laser-weapons-18186
 
From Inside Defense

Air Force to brief industry on defensive laser development for F-22, F-35 and PCA

The Air Force next month plans to brief industry on a new project to ready a speed-of-light defensive weapon for the F-22A Raptor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as well as a planned follow-on fighter capability in an effort that aims to demonstrate a prototype laser pod as soon as 2021
 
An old German documentary. Can't understand a word of it but it covers lasers and railguns. The railgun portion is at the end and shows German research work in the area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C847710pFo
 
A White Sands video detailing the services provided by the base. At 4:15 mark there is a 7 second long clip of a "demonstrator laser weapon system" using the old THEL beam director. This is probably the JHPSSL 100KW solid state laser and may be linked to the Navy "Laser Weapon Demonstrator" which intends to install a 150KW solid state laser on a destroyer. I am not sure what the target is. Looks more like a bomb than anything else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8LC107nNLU
 

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fredymac said:
A White Sands video detailing the services provided by the base. At 4:15 mark there is a 7 second long clip of a "demonstrator laser weapon system" using the old THEL beam director. This is probably the JHPSSL 100KW solid state laser and may be linked to the Navy "Laser Weapon Demonstrator" which intends to install a 150KW solid state laser on a destroyer. I am not sure what the target is. Looks more like a bomb than anything else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8LC107nNLU

https://youtu.be/2RyFcBcLOZM?t=31
 
What was at 3:13? I'm guessing some type of "agent defeat " warhead given the narration at the time.
 
sferrin said:
Is that SM-3 Block IIA there at 3:55?
The narrator was citing NIFC-CA, which would make that an SM-6 launch. Unless the SM-3 footage was closer to hand and the editor figured it was close enough.
 
http://www.boozallen.com/lp/directed-energy-summit-2017?utm_source=directedenergysummitcom&utm_medium=domain&utm_campaign=desummit
 
Air Force to explore operational feasibility of directed-energy weapons


Air Force leadership recently signed off on a plan to explore the operational and policy implications of integrating directed-energy weapons into its fleet.

Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and Secretary Deborah Lee James approved the plan within the last few weeks, according to Jack Blackhurst, the Air Force Research Laboratory's chief planner and the director of the new strategic development planning and experimentation office, told Inside the Air Force in a Dec. 2 interview.

The service has been conducting studies around directed-energy technology for several years and plans to demonstrate integration of a high-power laser on a fighter platform in the 2020 time frame. The work of Blackhurst's office will center on understanding how the new capability will actually be used operationally.

"There's a technology challenge there that the technologists are working on trying to prove the capability," he said. "What we're trying to do here is look at, 'Well, if you had that capability on the fighter jet, how would you utilize that in both an operational or defensive scenario?'"

Blackhurst's strategic development planning and experimentation office is largely tasked with supporting efforts that arise out of the Enterprise Capability Collaboration Teams the service has stood up to consider future capabilities. However, the directed-energy study is an "out-of-cycle" effort requested by leadership, he said. The office is now working with the Air Staff to identify what experiments it should conduct and will likely present those options in February or March.

He noted that initial experiments will likely be conducted in some sort of virtual warfare setting where the service would use live, virtual, constructive technology to run simulations to see how the laser might be used in operational missions.

"That would give us insight as to the feasibility of using this technology," he said. "The whole purpose of these experiments is to determine if it's feasible or not and the technology will tell us whether it's technologically feasible to put on an airplane."
 
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/air-force-study-finds-operational-lasers-for-ac-130-432355/
 
DOD Contracts for Dec. 15, 2016


The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded an estimated $90,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for laser pod research and development. Contractor will provide research and development of high energy laser technologies. Work will be performed at St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 15, 2021.This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with four offers received. Cost-plus-fixed-fee completion task order FA9451-17-F-0001 was also awarded under this contract for $35,728,551. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9451-17-D-0031)
 
marauder2048 said:
DOD Contracts for Dec. 15, 2016


The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded an estimated $90,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for laser pod research and development. Contractor will provide research and development of high energy laser technologies. Work will be performed at St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 15, 2021.This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with four offers received. Cost-plus-fixed-fee completion task order FA9451-17-F-0001 was also awarded under this contract for $35,728,551. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9451-17-D-0031)

$90M is big bucks for an HEL program. I am not aware of any laser R&D entities at St Louis (the old McDonnell Douglas plant). If the program is about the pod itself and the internal power/environmental/vibration systems it would need to host an HEL, then it might fit. Kirtland is the center for Air Force HEL research so they are the program budget source. I am going to guess this contract does not include the HEL system itself.
 
fredymac said:
$90M is big bucks for an HEL program. I am not aware of any laser R&D entities at St Louis (the old McDonnell Douglas plant). If the program is about the pod itself and the internal power/environmental/vibration systems it would need to host an HEL, then it might fit. Kirtland is the center for Air Force HEL research so they are the program budget source. I am going to guess this contract does not include the HEL system itself.

$90 Million for an IQIQ contract can be deceptive -- that's the maximum value for the whole contract. As noted, they've only awarded one task order for $35.7 million, and only obligated $5 million of that so far (the rest may be option years on that task order, which might not end up being exercised).

They're moving a bunch of R&D jobs from Huntington Beach to St Louis, so maybe it's some of those folks doing the work?
 
From the BAA for Laser Pod Research and Development (LPRD)


The SHiELD ATD program is comprised of several contractual components;
therefore, significant collaboration between industry partners involved in the effort
is essential.

LPRD is the second of these procurements and is focused on (an)
innovative aerodynamic structure(s) which provide(s) the laser system integration
environment, a surrogate high energy laser (SHEL) for the low-power
configuration, the power and thermal management subsystems (to handle laser
system loads), and the system control subsystem (hardware and software to
include the battle management/fire control functions for the system). The LPRD-
developed demonstrator will also incorporate the separately developed beam
control subsystem (BCS) and have the ability to incorporate (in Phase II), a
separately procured HEL. The other four procurements (not part of this Broad
Agency Announcement (BAA)), will provide the BCS, HEL, test support, and
Government systems engineering support. Due to these multiple procurements,
LPRD offerors should expect to work closely with other contractors to meet the
objectives of the SHiELD ATD program.
 
OK, that helps.

http://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-to-develop-laser-beam-control-system-for-next-generation-fighter

"The contract calls for Northrop Grumman to develop and produce the beam control portion of an airborne laser weapon demonstration system that AFRL is developing under its Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program."

"Northrop Grumman is developing the SHiELD beam control system under a segment of the ATD program known as SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects, or STRAFE."
 
fredymac said:
OK, that helps.

http://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-to-develop-laser-beam-control-system-for-next-generation-fighter

"The contract calls for Northrop Grumman to develop and produce the beam control portion of an airborne laser weapon demonstration system that AFRL is developing under its Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program."

"Northrop Grumman is developing the SHiELD beam control system under a segment of the ATD program known as SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects, or STRAFE."
thanks for postin great acronym
 
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/congress-gets-serious-about-laser-weapons-in-defense-bill

I hope they doubled or tripled funding for CPGS as well??
 
bobbymike said:
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/congress-gets-serious-about-laser-weapons-in-defense-bill

I hope they doubled or tripled funding for CPGS as well??

The link indicates spending will rise to $328M in 2017 representing a 51% jump. That means current spending is around $220M. This sounds about right given that it is spread over a dozen different projects including those from DARPA and JTO among others. As a comparison, back in the old Jimmy Carter days, Air Force spending alone was around this amount (in 1978 dollars). Reminds me of the part in that video of Electric Boat history I posted where the US didn't order a single submarine for over a decade following WWI . The ancillary cuts in torpedo development weren't mentioned but certainly felt during WWII where 2 years were wasted firing duds.
 
ONR, Northrop developing higher-powered laser for 2018 at-sea tests


The Office of Naval Research and Northrop Grumman are developing a sea-based laser weapon that increases fivefold the power of the directed-energy system currently deployed in the Arabian Gulf.

The Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) being developed by ONR and Northrop will have 150 kilowatts of power, a significant increase over the 30-kilowatt Laser Weapon System (LaWS) deployed aboard the Afloat Forward Staging Base Ponce (ASFB(I)-15) in the Arabian Gulf since 2014.

The higher power will allow the new laser to engage surface and air targets, like small boats and drones, at greater ranges than the LaWS, according to Ronald Flatley, the Solid-State Laser-Technology Maturation program officer for ONR's Air Warfare and Weapons Department.

"The LWSD will be used to demonstrate the capability to effectively engage surface and air threats, defeating them at ranges and rates that significantly surpass what LaWS on the Ponce can achieve today," Flatley wrote in a Dec. 9 email to Inside the Navy.

The new system will be able to track and identify targets at ranges "measured in miles," according to Flatley, and will demonstrate the ability to protect Navy ships "at tactically relevant ranges."

Northrop is responsible for building the "working heart of LWSD," the tactical core laser module, according to Guy Renard, deputy director of directed energy at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. The module is comprised of the beam director, the laser, targeting and tracking systems, and fire control, Renard wrote in a Nov. 28 email to ITN.

"As ONR's LWSD prime contractor, Northrop Grumman will integrate multiple fiber lasers to achieve the required output power levels," he wrote. "Another challenge is designing and packaging the beam director so that it will operate reliably in the maritime environment."

ONR, meanwhile, oversees the program and is responsible for integrating the laser with the supporting components like power and cooling systems. ONR also does all the testing of the system, according to Renard.

The Navy is planning to conduct land-based tests of the LWSD in fiscal year 2017, with the goal of transitioning to sea-based tests in FY-18, according to Flatley. The laser passed its preliminary design review this past July, Renard said.

The FY-18 demonstration will be done with the laser integrated onto the Navy's Self-Defense Test Ship, a de-commissioned Spruance-class destroyer used by the service for various tests. Flatley said the Navy has not determined what will follow after the sea-based tests.

"Currently no decisions have been made to integrate or operate the LWSD on an existing Navy ship after 2018," he wrote. "The LWSD would need to undergo modifications appropriate to a specific class or type of ship before it could be integrated, certified and fielded operationally."

Last year, however, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the service was planning to start a program of record for directed energy weapons in FY-18. During a July 2015 industry conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Mabus said he would issue guidance for the FY-18 program objective memorandum -- the military's five-year spending plan -- that establishes a new program of record for directed-energy weapons. He said the new effort would focus on developing multiple kinds of platforms.

"The idea is to not concentrate on just one weapon system," Mabus said.

The Navy will release its FY-18 budget request some time in the spring. For now, directed energy remains a developmental effort.

"Senior Navy leadership continues to be supportive of accelerating the pace of learning and experimentation to evaluate the promise of laser weapons," Flatley said. "Systems like LaWS on the USS Ponce, combined with the new knowledge gained from the development and testing of the Laser Weapon System Demonstrator, significantly enhance the ability of the Navy to make decisions related to any future program of record."
 
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/01/us-army-ramping-up-combat-lasers-on.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Fadvancednano+%28nextbigfuture%29&utm_content=FaceBook
 
http://www.janes.com/article/66748/usaf-issues-rfp-for-fighter-aircraft-laser-weapon
 
bobbymike said:
http://www.janes.com/article/66748/usaf-issues-rfp-for-fighter-aircraft-laser-weapon

So this is the laser portion of the SHIELD program. No requirements specified for the laser having to be fiber based or conventional solid state slab. I would imagine Lockheed will bid fibers, Northrop would bid slab, and General Atomics some offshoot of their HELLADS design.
 
JMSDF laser?

https://twitter.com/BLACKBEARD11/status/818725299512741888
 

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Panic over. https://twitter.com/TotherChris/status/818919435675271168

Mods to move?
 

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http://aerospace.firetrench.com/2017/01/directed-energy-atmospheric-lens-could-revolutionise-future-battlefields/

A technology concept from BAE Systems – the Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens (LDAL) – that could be used by future commanders within the next fifty years as a more versatile surveillance and defence solution. The technology, deployed from an aircraft, would be capable of enhancing commanders’ ability to observe adversaries’ activities over much greater distances than existing sensors through temporary heating or ionising of the atmosphere.
At the same time, the lens could be used as a form of ‘deflector shield’ to protect friendly aircraft, ships, land vehicles and troops from incoming attacks by high power laser weapons that could also become a reality in the same time period. BAE Systems has created an animation to demonstrate the concept in more detail, which can be viewed on the BAE Systems YouTube channel – youtube.com/user/BAESystemsplc
 
http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1675509-navy-to-fire-150kw-ship-laser-weapon
 
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (Jan. 25, 2017) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson toured and reviewed new technologies being developed and tested at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) and USS Desert Ship (LLS 1), a land-based launch facility designed to simulate a ship at sea. Both facilities are located on White Sands Missile Range, N.M. HELSTF operates the nation´s most powerful laser in support of DoD laser research, development, test, and evaluation. Desert Ship, as part of the Tri-Service National Range Test Facility, makes it possible to test a variety of network-centric and battle-space management scenarios. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Elliott Fabrizio/Released)
 

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