Solid State Laser News

 
thermal management maybe but what about hybrid chemical/solid state as SS alone will never deliver the operational capability.
 
thermal management maybe but what about hybrid chemical/solid state as SS alone will never deliver the operational capability.
Solid State Lasers are already demonstrating operational capability, chum.
 
KBR successfully demonstrates first combat-capable directed energy system for U.S. Army

September 08, 2021

 
DE M-SHORAD is a fully mobile, 50-kilowatt (kW)-class high energy laser (HEL) capable of delivering sustained counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) and counter-rocket, artillery, mortar (C-RAM) firepower to the modern battlefield. The Combat Shoot-Off, which ended in late July at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, demonstrated the system's ability to maneuver and engage multiple targets at various ranges utilizing state-of-the-art technologies.

The CSO also showcased the ability of the KBR team to rapidly train the Soldiers on the DE M-SHORAD prototype, using a variety of modern training tools, including commercial gaming controllers and interactive, tablet-based three-dimensional models of the system. Soldiers were first taught to operate the DE M-SHORAD vehicle using immersive virtual training designed by KBR to maximize soldier effectiveness in the vehicle.

"Soldier-centered design throughout the prototyping effort is only the start," continued Bright. "The CSO demonstrated that Soldiers were able to rapidly learn how to operate the system and quickly demonstrate proficiency in target acquisition, aim point selection, and engagements thanks to state-of-the-art training utilizing immersive technology for the modern Soldier."

Following the successful shoot-off, RCCTO announced the program is still on track to deliver a platoon of four laser-equipped Strykers by the end of fiscal year 2022.
To me the wording is vague, it just says "engage" which is another word for interact, not kill, it does not explicitly say it managed to shoot down any rockets, artillery shells, mortar bombs or UAS.
 
thermal management maybe but what about hybrid chemical/solid state as SS alone will never deliver the operational capability.
Solid State Lasers are already demonstrating operational capability, chum.
Quite aware of operational SSs and their lacking capability, although, operational.
..have no classified access on the latest optical materials, but hybrid lasers were funded by the AF for some time.
Power density of chemical fuels vs capacitors alone (same w/ railguns as stated for yrs), its called physics, chum.

Hybrid Electric is a system driven by fuel combustion ie it is not SS, for instance.
https://www.slideshare.net/TelepathSystems/john-nairus-hybridelectric-propulsion




EOIL technology represents a unique class of hybrid electric gas high-energy laser with the potential to have inherently higher beam quality than solid state systems, while being more logistically friendly than current Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) systems.
 
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More utility to lasers hmm.... Perhaps it can be part of EOIR sensors in general.
 
Next step in directed energy power transmission from Space harvested solar energy:

What the Army needs is an energy source it can tap into from anywhere on Earth with limited infrastructure, and the Air Force Research Laboratory believes it might just have the solution: A constellation of satellite-mounted solar arrays that can collect energy on orbit and beam it down to Earth. Terrestrial service members would be able to plug into that energy source from anywhere on the planet with mobile equipment, enabling them to power an entire forward operating base or simply charge a radio.

 
And something that could be used with the above as a reception dish outside of the turbulent layers of the atmosphere for a civilian application (a rewind of an earlier concept) :

View: https://youtu.be/D8Aud-tR8v8
Didnt Raytheon Tucson try something like this?

WHIRL-A-DRONE BEGINS TO SPIN​


whirl1.jpg
"Right now, it looks a lot like a Frisbee with four wings," the Wall Street Journal says. But, one day, this early prototype could become "an unmanned aircraft capable of hovering in the same spot for days at a time."
The craft, known as the Whirl, is being designed at the "Bike Shop" -- a small, secretive development shop tucked away in a corner of Raytheon, the giant defense contractor.
"What makes the Whirl radical is the guidance system," the paper says. "Slow-speed propellers keep the aircraft spinning, and rudder-like airfoils at the tip of each wing generate thrust. They do that by acting as sails, adjusting to the wind so the Whirl can either fly downwind or tack into it. The wingtip sails and the electronic brains that operate wing flaps to keep the Whirl stable in high winds are innovations included in a U.S. patent application Raytheon filed in July."
So far, a 20-foot wingspan model of the ship has hovered near the ceiling of a Raytheon hangar. But soon, the Whirl will be ready for open-air tests. "Then," the Journal notes, "the company will ask the Pentagon to finance the development of Whirls with enough fuel capacity to fly for four days."
THERE'S MORE: New Scientist puts its spin on the Whirl drone here.
AND MORE: "It may look like a combine-harvester," declares the Independent, "but a plane designed in a Tuscan farmhouse is being hailed as one of the great breakthroughs in aeronautical history. " Actually, to me the FanWing looks a little more like a helicopter with a giant razor blade attached. (Thanks to Defense Tech reader RC for the tip.)

September 8, 2004 09:58 AM | Drones |
 
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Some similarities I would agree, yes. Though also a number of major differences, such as their wildly different planned operating regimes.
 
Next step in directed energy power transmission from Space harvested solar energy:

SSPIDR is sort of a portfolio of tech development. So ultimately, our goal is solar to RF [radio frequency] power beaming — taking power from the sun that we collect in space, converting it to RF on orbit, and beaming that to the ground where it would then be converted back to power by a rectifying antenna, or rectenna
Are there beam width numbers for this, as RF systems is hard to focus. Personally I'd think a laser power that work in "solar cell operating bands" is probably a more practical system, as it does not require additional ground or vehicle side equipment and can provide utility with a very incomplete system, and may provide utility to civilian operators.

With satellite systems, historically, flexibility and the ability to redirect capability across continents is the greatest value proposition as fixed demand is better fulfilled by land based efforts, and for this flexibility to work, large amounts of compatible ground side equipment must exist.

It is terrible to have every squad carry a rectenna for the once in a thousand chance it'd get serviced by a solar sat. However every squad can carry fold out solar and if more power is needed a laser can be directed to help.
 
“Hopefully we’ll make some headway because it’s a problem that’s escalating,” Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) added. “This is not something that’s happened in the past — it’s something that’s happened and is ongoing.”
[...]
some officials remain skeptical of the prevailing theory, and some prominent neurologists have described that explanation as implausible.

But members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who are receiving weekly updates from the intelligence community on the status of the investigation, said the latest information they’ve received has disproved the skeptics — and in public statements, those lawmakers are increasingly referring to the incidents as directed-energy attacks.
[...]
The Florida Republican also suggested that some of the skeptics, many of whom have written op-eds recently, are “influence agents that are being paid and or encouraged to write these on behalf of those — foreign government or whatever — that don’t want this to be discussed out there and want to cast doubt about it.”

“I mean, they’re echoing the lines that we heard from the Cuban regime and others,” Rubio added.

 
To complement the article above (post #663) :

Sleep deprivation, via directed energy, works on the principle of brain wave frequency interference.

Sleeping involves three phases from near consciousness to a short periods of time where you are at a deep unconscious state and your body is regenerating (a normal cycle will last 2hr and will repeat itself several time until the subject is awake). Those short periods of deep sleep are what is mainly targeted in the sleep deprivation. As your body can't enter this phase of regeneration, you are left in a constant phase of deep fatigue that quickly reach cognitive latency, impairment and, if perpetrated in the long term, accelerated aging.

Those three phases have characteristics brain frequencies (low nbr of Hz), differentiated easily between each others, that can identify at what period of rest you are.

By the the principle of phase differentiation, the perpetrators emit a signal from one point that is intercepted at another. The installation is quasi static since most individuals sleep in the same place most of the time or have predictable locations where they will rest and can then be dissimulated. But most installation are temporary and removed after the action on a daily basis. The principle is similar to that of a static radar and unblocked by most housing materials. The emissions range being covertly concealed among the modern spectrum.

With a signal that ran through the subject brain, the frequency is altered and a recognition software can identify, not only the phase of sleep, but also recognize the target, given that proper data have been collected priorly.

HPMW is then used but other means like pulse sounds, banging on a nearby wall, laser burn or laser interferometry voicing (God voice) can be used. The intensity of the stimuli to awake the subject is function of the state of sleep: the deeper, the more energetic the stimulus have to be and the more brain or body damages is induced. But a weak sound, timely emitted will awake you the same way in during the first phase of sleep. The only drawback being that the process is highly repetitive as an exhausted individual will immediately fall asleep in a mater of a dozen minutes. Internal organs injury is to be expected.
Any organs, aside of the subject's brain, that have been also properly characterized can be targeted to induce pain and awake the subject: kidney (a favorite as it seems), stomach or heart. Heart pulsation can be mimicked seemingly up to cardiac arrest by resonance.

The process does not involve any specific competencies other than trained perpetrators. Most of the necessary analysis related to the specificity of the target can be offloaded (data) to processing centers and the torturing instrument delivered in benign packages that won't raise any suspicion. In fact, it's the HPMW emitters, used to awake and impair the subjects, that are the most sensitive items in the chain and are the subject to a tightly overlooked distribution network to timely deliver them among perpetrators through covert logistics.
The logistic chain is heavily embedded in the country network of official and non-official representations like associations, partnering industry or simple factious movements already responsive to solicitations in similar endeavors. Cults are surprisingly (?) not immune to participate. But also a fair amount of petty criminals, drug addicts and local criminal gangs are routinely engaged in actions.

Once you are in the path of the emitter signal, the interaction with your body lead to the the ringing noise so characteristic, at least if you were awake when the signal was started. A full stealth mode is in effect possible, depriving an individual for days without him/her being aware of what's going on. The effect on your professional activities is immediate, especially if you haven't been trained by long periods of similar torture before, and will impair immediately any attempted intellectual duties. Fatigue might quickly lead to an increased accidentology, especially with manual workers, potentially leading to death.

There is indeed a diurnal application that involves an higher level of energy and will induce slight to severe cognitive latency through the brutal effect of Microwaves (the subject is "cooked" alive). This doesn't need a receptor and only a single perpetrator is necessary. The distance to the target being dependent to the intensity of the signal beamed (the flashlight strategy) and the aspect geometry.
 
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A General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing [NYSE: BA] team has been awarded a U.S. Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) contract to develop a 300kW-class solid state Distributed Gain High Energy Laser Weapon System. Delivery will be a 300 kW-class distributed gain laser with an integrated Boeing beam director. The objective of this contract is a demonstration of the design.

“The high power, compact laser weapon subsystem prototype that GA-EMS will deliver under this contract will produce a lethal output greater than anything fielded to date,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “This technology represents a leap-ahead capability for air and missile defense that is necessary to support the Army’s modernization efforts and defeat next-generation threats in a multi-domain battlespace.”

The partnership combines both companies’ expertise in Directed Energy to deliver best-in-class, combat-ready protection for the warfighter with unmatched speed, performance, safety and affordability. Specifically, the system will leverage GA-EMS’ scalable Distributed Gain Laser technology with Boeing’s beam director and precision acquisition, tracking and pointing software to provide a complete demonstrator with sophisticated laser and beam control.

Dr. Michael Perry, vice president for lasers and advanced sensors at GA-EMS describes the laser as “a packaged version of the 7th Generation of our Distributed Gain Design already demonstrated. The laser system employs two Gen 7 laser heads in a very compact and lightweight package. Recent architectural improvements have enabled our single-beam DG Lasers to achieve comparable beam quality to fiber lasers in a very simple design without the need for beam combination,”

“We’re excited to take the next step in delivering this critical capability to the Army,” said Cindy Gruensfelder, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Missile and Weapon Systems division. “Our joint offering will leverage proven, deployed technologies to provide an industry-leading solution on an accelerated timeline.”

 

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A few items to note re the 300 kW GA-EMS

General Atomics make the bold claim it will "produce a lethal output greater than anything fielded to date"

General Atomics use a totally different type of laser, Distributed Gain with slabs of crystal, compared to the Lockheed and Raytheon use of fiber-optic cables as the gain medium which allow space for cooling but then require the combining of the individually weak fiber beams, the more powerful the laser the more fibers required making it complex whereas presume with distributed gain laser will need additional slabs to avoid over heating. Over time it will be of interest to see which tech wins out for the more powerful/useful lasers if lasers ever to become operationally viable weapon systems.

Boeing responsible for the fire control system to enable the limited energy of the laser beam to hold for the few seconds necessary on a few sq cm to burn thro on what could be on a hard nosecone of a very fast moving and with the normal atmosphere causing random movements of a missile target, in effect a hit to kill, have seen no info on what system Boeing using.
 
Can the approaches be combined…ground based fibers to pump an aerial crystal aloft to give it more power than the aircraft itself can provide?
 
Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, one area of his portfolio is lasers, interview with Defense News, Nov 9.

Lasers are sequential targets; you see a target, destroy a target, move to the next target. In swarms, you can’t react fast enough either with kinetic or high-energy lasers so we pair with high-power microwave, which is just an electronic burst from a point out in a cone shape and it kills everything in that cone that’s electronic. It’s a layered defense. You know, lasers can reach out further, high-power microwaves are relatively close. // We’ve teamed with the Air Force for a system called Thor, which they’re doing an operational test [of] right now. For the IFPC program, we’ll make our decision on the laser and the high-power microwave August of ‘22. And then we have to deliver those first batteries in ‘24.

Highlighting that lasers cannot take out swarms of UAS as they can't react fast enough and will be looking to high powered microwaves to counter swarms, THOR, though would expect the newer generations of UAS will be built with some form of Faraday cage or similar which can nullify almost all electromagnetic waves.

https://www.defensenews.com/intervi...s-hypersonic-supervisor-talks-tech-portfolio/
 
Faraday cage or similar which can nullify almost all electromagnetic waves.
Which unless you drone has one HELL of an AI, makes its pretty much uncontrolable.

Cause you going to need a hole in the faraday cage to run the anteana thru, dump enough power on the anteana...

Drop goes back home or just drop cause its receiver transmitter is fried...
 

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