Solid State Laser News

Lockheed is supremely confident in their laser tech. As another exec, Paul Shattuck, boasted on an earlier occasion: “Our beam control technology enables precision equivalent to shooting a beach ball off the top of the Empire State Building from the San Francisco Bay Bridge.”

if this is true bring back the ABL w/ a hybrid chemical/solid state for overwatch but beef up the engines on those 747s.
 

Currently, Van Ovost told reporters at the virtual AFA 2020 conference, her aircrafts’ communications are largely limited to line-of-sight radio networks. Now, radio goes a long way when you’re flying 50,000 feet in the air, but it’s not enough for future warfare, when satellites and smart weapons can hunt targets hidden over the horizon.



But, I asked, how can large, unstealthy and slow transports and tankers conduct these ambitious missions in a conflict against a high-tech adversary like Russia or China, who can target them with long-range surface-to-air missiles and 4th generation fighters?

Air Mobility Command is looking to upgrade the self-defense systems on its aircraft, Van Ovost answered. But the most important weapon is information – those real-time updates on where the threats are and what air corridors are clear, which can change moment to moment as US forces try to bomb, jam, and hack openings in the enemy’s defensive net.
 
There's still multiple SSL programs running in DoD, and the GA SSL tech is scalable. They may be hoping for contracts outside the Army's, they may also hope to position themselves as a credible alternative if the LM-Dynetics team runs into cost problems.
 
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I don't know where better to put that (directed energy but no laser) :
The company’s first consumer device, SoundBeamer 1.0, is planned for release in December 2021. This compact, desktop unit is designed primarily for video conferencing but can also be used for SoundBeaming anything from podcasts to meditation and more.
 

The argument for Chemical based or Hybrid (mixing Chem and SS) remains. Likewise, NPB needs continual effort especially to counter hypers..
 
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While the report does not conclude that the use of directed microwave energy in these instances was done deliberately, it said such action could be used for nefarious purposes.

"The mere consideration of such a scenario raises grave concerns about a world with disinhibited malevolent actors and new tools for causing harm to others, as if the U.S. government does not have its hands full already with naturally occurring threats," the report said.
 
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Boeing has upgraded and delivered the first batch of previously deployed Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS) units to a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) customer – increasing their maximum beam power and reliability. Boeing expects to complete upgrades on the remaining units and deliver them in the first quarter of 2021.

 
Man, we are sleepwalking into another military revolution. The PGM/computer RMA is old by 2020, and we won't learn how it would all work out in "full contact" (all we have is theories like inter-war mobile warfare concepts) before the next revolution hits.

The existence of CRIMESTOP legal restrictions means the technology have gone through orders of magnitude performance improvements above functional utility without a warfighting concept let alone a doctrine behind it. It is like the alt-universe where radar gets banned until high power microwave weapons populate every brigade.

There is potential for very rapid, large change to ground combat if one side declares "land targets" as valid (while accumulating warcrime claims measured in Hertz) and structures to fight like that.

It is rather questionable on whether laws can stop the evolution of violence dead in its tracks. If the fighting gets tough, can it really be expected that fighting forces would not apply the most powerful weapon available?

I think we are at the point where if ISIS survives a few more years it could have laser program, while a TB-2 class UAV with the right weapon can pin a battalion for hours on end.

The conceptualization of lasers as point defense is as silly as conceptualization of radio waves as death rays. The orders of magnitudes performance advantage against the most powerful and common sensor on the battlefield with massive battlefield shaping potential

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Imagine a world of persistent, wide area, instant, reliable, low cost suppression.

Covers means little if you can't see or influence anything outside it.

In the world of lasers melting every EOIR in sight, the guy with the mmW radar is king.

The best way to defeat lasers, is more lasers: lasers to blind targeting sensors (the blind can't aim lasers), disrupt the atmosphere, and disrupt adaptive optics. Standoff laser suppression totally a thing.

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Frankly, I don't think we know how war works when the battlefield is littered with 100+kW lasers in every maneuver formation with the will to use it against whatever.
 
Man, we are sleepwalking into another military revolution. The PGM/computer RMA is old by 2020, and we won't learn how it would all work out in "full contact" (all we have is theories like inter-war mobile warfare concepts) before the next revolution hits.

The existence of CRIMESTOP legal restrictions means the technology have gone through orders of magnitude performance improvements above functional utility without a warfighting concept let alone a doctrine behind it. It is like the alt-universe where radar gets banned until high power microwave weapons populate every brigade.

There is potential for very rapid, large change to ground combat if one side declares "land targets" as valid (while accumulating warcrime claims measured in Hertz) and structures to fight like that.

It is rather questionable on whether laws can stop the evolution of violence dead in its tracks. If the fighting gets tough, can it really be expected that fighting forces would not apply the most powerful weapon available?

I think we are at the point where if ISIS survives a few more years it could have laser program, while a TB-2 class UAV with the right weapon can pin a battalion for hours on end.

The conceptualization of lasers as point defense is as silly as conceptualization of radio waves as death rays. The orders of magnitudes performance advantage against the most powerful and common sensor on the battlefield with massive battlefield shaping potential

=======

Imagine a world of persistent, wide area, instant, reliable, low cost suppression.

Covers means little if you can't see or influence anything outside it.

In the world of lasers melting every EOIR in sight, the guy with the mmW radar is king.

The best way to defeat lasers, is more lasers: lasers to blind targeting sensors (the blind can't aim lasers), disrupt the atmosphere, and disrupt adaptive optics. Standoff laser suppression totally a thing.

-----------
Frankly, I don't think we know how war works when the battlefield is littered with 100+kW lasers in every maneuver formation with the will to use it against whatever.
YOu are forgetting the fact that the SHOOTER needs to see as much as the Shootie needs to see to defend.

The army is working make sure that that Battalion you mention is going to have at least 5 if not more lasers of the similar power class if not more powerful and longer lasting since a Hummvee can carry a bigger generator then most UAVs.

While the TB-2 is taking out one vehicle it will be in turn targeted by 4 others. Add in the fact that there are other sensors other then visual to use against vehicles.

It will come down to a simple number game, who has more lasers to bring to bare?

No different from when the likes of machineguns, nukes, and similar came to be.

Luckly for us since everyone is thinking with their wallets these days the odds of another BIG WAR is less likely then ever. It cheaper to buy the stuff then to military conquerer it for the most part. And that before adding in Canned Sunshine into the mix.
 
HPMW shielding fabric (not sure it's new) :
 
HPMW shielding fabric (not sure it's new) :
"2D material called MXene" sure sounds a lot more serious than tin foil.
But will the beanie hat be more effective?
 

Army preps Strykers for laser combat shoot-off


REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Offering a silent shot with unlimited rounds, laser weapons have long been the “next big thing” coming to the battlefield.

Now, “next” is finally here.

As the Army works to address increasing and changing threats from unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and rockets, artillery and mortars (RAM), the service is turning to high energy lasers, installed on tactical vehicles, to protect U.S. ground forces and equipment. The first of these combat-capable weapon systems, 50 kilowatt (kW)-class lasers mounted on Stryker vehicles, is on track for operational fielding by Fiscal Year 2022.

Already, a unique Army-industry team is integrating two Strykers in Huntsville, Ala. with 50 kW-class laser weapon capabilities and support equipment. By spring, these Strykers will head to a combat shoot-off event at Fort Sill, Okla., where they’ll face a series of scenarios designed to test the system and establish threshold requirements for this class of laser. The result will lead to the competitive selection of one of the two laser systems for further prototype production, while also demonstrating for the first time that this laser technology is at a mature technical readiness level.

“This is moving extremely fast,” said COL G. Scott McLeod, the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) program manager for Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE-MSHORAD). “Everybody has done a great job of managing all of the technical complexity and challenges of getting these new components built and integrated so we can move to the shoot-off next year.”

The DE-MSHORAD prototyping effort – as part of the Army’s larger modernization strategy for air and missile defense – is intended to help protect Divisions and Brigade Combat Teams from UAS, Rotary-wing aircraft and RAM threats, and will be delivered to a platoon of four Strykers by Fiscal Year 2022.

In an effort to rapidly deliver these firsts for the Army, the RCCTO selected two vendors in a cost share approach to build the two laser systems, fostering competition and stimulating the industrial base for directed energy capabilities.

The integration efforts by the two sub-contractors, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, is being overseen by the prime contractor, Kord Technologies. To keep efforts fair, the integration work on each laser system is being performed in separate areas at the Kord integration facility in Huntsville. And to keep things safe during a national pandemic, the teams are implementing measures such as regular temperature checks, mask wearing, social distancing and smaller group sizes.

“This is an exciting stage of the program, as we’re starting to put the laser systems together,” McLeod said. “Soon we’ll begin performing internal evaluations of the systems here at Redstone as part of the walk-up to the combat shoot-off in a few months. We’re looking forward to getting the vehicles fully integrated and ready to go out to the range.”

In October 2020, the competing contractors simultaneously evaluated control and functionality against airborne targets. Two additional evaluations, serving as risk reduction events, will take place leading up to the combat shoot-off. At the shoot-off, the two laser systems will go up against a series of 12 vignettes that will increase in difficulty. For example, there will be a mix of scenarios that could include UAS targets, RAM targets, or both. It is not expected that both systems will be able to meet all the demands of all of the scenarios, but the realistic challenges to the prototypes will serve to establish threshold requirements for future DE-MSHORAD systems.

“The vignettes are important because our intent is to stress the systems to failure,” said Dr. Craig Robin, deputy director of the RCCTO DE Project Office. “So we are not assuming they will pass everything, we are purposely creating a series of vignettes with increased complexity. It’s a different paradigm in terms of a competition. It will not only help select between the two systems, but will also demonstrate that the technology is at a Technical Readiness Level 7, representing a major step in prototype completion.”

Not the same as an operational test, the combat shoot-off will include scoring criteria and evaluations from an overall performance standpoint, added McLeod.

“This is setting the baseline of what a 50 kW-class laser system is capable of doing,” he added. “It shapes how the Army will write DE-MSHORAD requirements going forward.”

Also, to ensure the prototypes deliver residual combat capability that meets the users’ needs, close and recurring collaboration with Soldiers will be conducted throughout the effort to gather their feedback and input.

To address the support and infrastructure around the prototype lasers, the RCCTO utilizes a unique stakeholder forum known as the Octagon. This integrated group of stakeholders includes representation from all aspects of Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P). The group works in parallel with prototype development, ensuring the right elements are ready when the prototypes are delivered.

The initial DE-MSHORAD Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement was awarded to Kord Technologies in July 2019. Last month, the Army exercised an option on the OTA to purchase the additional DE-MSHORAD prototypes to be delivered by September 2022, for a total of four 50 kW-class laser Stryker vehicles. The industry team also includes Rocky Research for laser support equipment and General Dynamics for Stryker vehicle support.
 
@bring_it_on - Presuming similar capabilities as the LM HELIOS’s for USN, a 60kW spectrally beam-combined high-energy fiber laser designed to counter unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and fast inshore attack boats.

Any thoughts on what its effective range might be, have seen no figures mentioned, 1 or 2km or longer?
 
Home hobbyist playing with a 100W diode array laser. Gives a hint of what you get if you factor up 1000 times (except of course the beam will be invisible).

Hmm, will laser terrorism be a thing? What it lacks in lethality it makes up in rapid casualty production. Someone managing a "las vegas shooting" kind of event can inflict huge blinding damage even if suppressed very quickly. Access can change dramatically with aerial vehicles and optics that enables some standoff.

Of course, terrorists are generally ineffective as many fail to procure effective means. Still, would not be too surprising if some of the better funded and organized orgs pulling off an attack.

The open question is whether an laser attack be effective (or perceived as effective, from the perspective of terrorists) in fulfilling political goals.
 
Remember like several months ago RKK Energia stated that they will make satellites with lasers power other satellites Russia to create satellite "refuelers" - Russia Beyond (rbth.com) , did not think of it too much. Than saw this source a few months ago from same company. Заряжающийся лазером из космоса беспилотник разработали в России — Российская газета (rg.ru)

A new type of unmanned aerial vehicle, which can be charged during flight by a space laser, is patented in Russia. The development belongs to the specialists of the rocket and space corporation Energia.
https://rg.ru/2020/10/23/video-dron-ispytali-dostavkoj-gruza-na-podlodku.html
The description of the invention to the patent is published on the website of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property. "The size and capacity of batteries is now one of the most problematic factors in the development of unmanned aircraft devices vertical take-off and landing," the document says.

Scientists are trying to solve this problem in two ways. The first is by increasing the energy performance of power sources. And the second is using a separate way of electricity "with the help of a wireless energy transmission system based on laser installations with wavelengths from 0.5 to 10 microns". The laser beam can be converted into electricity using photovoltaic converters.

- The technical result of the invention is a combination in the design of the quadcopter, in addition to the functions of the all-directed receiver-converter electromagnetic energy laser beam into electricity and passive marker of the system of search, tracking and guidance (PSN), as well as the functions of the power structure and thermal, which allows to perform a constructive (force) and thermal link of three mutually perpendicular cellular panels, which make up its body The authors explain the essence of the invention with drawings.

Unlike solar converters, the development can fly both during the day and at night. Its most effective work in cases where the situation requires not high speeds of flight, and more time hovering over the object under study. The power source can be located not only in space, but also on the surface of the earth.


Besides the Burevestnik I am assuming that as long as there is a satellite with energy, for each passing orbit it can shoot a laser beam to re-power the drone to keep on flying. Might give Musk marketing ideas to recharge Teslas :cool:
 
Tequila [why do I smile writing your handle? ! ;) ], Laser beaming from space and High Power MicroWave directed energy have the potential to be the oil industry of tomorrow.

The R&D push in Russia for a Space Tug is all about that.

Please notice also that distributed energy sharing is gonna be the bitcoins of tomorrow.
It's not your Tesla only that you're going to charge. It's the capacitor inside that will give you the potential to re-sale your delta of energy on the go

I put all that years ago in a marketing strategy for any wannabe Startuper. It's there to be taken.
 
The new Biden administration has announced a review of Russia's "aggressive actions" and incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed during his confirmation to sharing more information about "Havana syndrome". He also promised "accountability" if a state actor was responsible. New CIA director Bill Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, may also take a close interest.

If it is proven that Russia used a microwave weapon against US officials, the consequences could be explosive. But, even if it were true, finding sufficient evidence to be confident in making a public accusation may prove difficult, leaving the issue unresolved.
I hope that this administration would realize that the issue is much more profund than the bad Russian sucker punching the Amerikan. The sociological aspect is the leading factor to understand the amplitude of the problem equivalent to what are international extremisms. It's sadly rooted deeply in state actors and sponsors and given the lagg in response, have now impregnated criminal organizations as well.
Thus, going after the arrows is not a valid state strategy anymore, but something that should be delegated to an empowered legal prosecution. The urgency is with the archer, those that produce, disseminate and support the logistic chain of such technologies (analytics).

 
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