Air Force Research Laboratory developed the self-protect high energy laser demonstrator (SHiELD). The pod will house a laser weapon, and a beam control system that can be mounted on a military plane. According to an AFRL Press Release on July 10, the system will be tested by 2024.
Self-protect lasers are used to protect fighter aircraft from surface-to air and air-to–air missiles. It can also be deployed on older fighters as well as transports and tankers.
Dr. Robert Afzal from Lockheed Martin is a Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow in Laser and Sensor Technologies in Bothell, Wash.
He said that this is a significant challenge in terms of beam stability and power when dealing with atmospheric turbulence. He said that it is something developers are trying to overcome.
The integration of a mobile laser onto an airplane with its own power source (e.g. a portable generator) is another potential problem. This is why the Air Force Research Lab's Directed Energy Directorate, or afrl has invested heavily over the last ten years to develop these capabilities.
Inside Defense reports that a 50-kilowatt laser mounted to an eight-wheeled Stryker combat car was one of the first attempts in this direction. It was tested last year by the Army. In the test, the Stryker's laser was able to track and defeat 60-millimeter mortar rounds and drones in three different sizes.
These capabilities, according afrl could be used to perform a range of tasks such as defending aircraft from incoming missiles or engaging enemy targets either on the ground, or in the air, within visual distance. The technology could also be incorporated into fire control systems to help guide weapons.
Gunzinger stated that these weapons can be used in distributed operations, which reduces the vulnerability to attack. These weapons are great for small and light vehicles, Gunzinger added.
However, it is still challenging to integrate them on a fighter jet. The SHiELD project has been plagued by delays at the AFRL. It is uncertain when these problems will be solved.
Since the 1980s, Afrl's directed-energy directorate has focused its efforts on the development of technologies for high-energy weapons. The goal is to deliver a fully operational laser weapon to the air force in the mid-2020s. The directorate is looking for ways to make a laser weapon more scalable by incorporating coherent beam combined-tiled array high-energy laser sources that can be arranged in panelized, gimbal-mounted configurations to generate a large output beam.
According to its website, the directed energy directorate of AFRL has a budget in excess of $355 millions. These programs are aimed at developing these technologies into functional weapons. AFRL is currently conducting two airborne demonstrations.