Coming Soon: F-35 and F-22s Armed with Lasers?
The day is fast approaching when stealth fighter jets, maneuvering in the sky faster than the speed of sound, can incinerate enemy aircraft or even ground targets with long-range, high power precision laser weapons.
The day is fast approaching when stealth fighter jets, maneuvering in the sky faster than the speed of sound, can incinerate enemy aircraft or even ground targets with long-range, high power precision laser weapons.
Ground tests and laboratory demonstrations have been underway for many years now at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico to assess, test and refine emerging laser weapons applications, with a mind to bringing the weapons to the air within just the next few years.
Source: USAF
Source: US Air Force
Source: Lockheed Martin
“DEUCE exposed our visiting warfighters to airborne laser weapon systems and how they might be used to counter threats to accomplish air base air defense and platform protect missions,” says Teresa LeGalley, the AFRL’s wargaming and simulation lead. “We engaged the warfighters in several battlefield scenarios. They gave us some excellent assessments, identifying where there is potential military utility of directed energy weapons.”
The AFRL’s wargaming experiment comes after Lockheed committed in September 2020 to putting a defensive laser weapon on an aircraft, perhaps the F-16 fighter, within five years. Its Tactical Airborne Laser Weapon System, a podded directed energy system carried underneath an aircraft, is intended for shooting down incoming tactical weapons, for instance air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles.
Kirtland AFB Air Force Research Laboratory Holds Directed Energy Wargaming, Modeling And Simulation Event - 10:01 am
Major Daniel Liu, an F-15E weapon systems officer from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., participates in the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Utility Concept Experiment held Jan. 11-15 at Kirtland AFB. AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate held the capstone event to evaluate the capabilities of directed energy for the future battlefield. Photo by Todd Berenger/USAF
AFRL held its capstone Directed Energy Utility Concept Experiment to assess the capabilities of directed energy for the future battlefield Jan. 11-15 at Kirtland AFB. Photo by Todd Berenger/USAF
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