Energia-aseet: laser ym.

[BarrelNut]

Turbulence-taming Turret: Lockheed Martin Prototype Expands Laser Performance at Jet Speeds

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2015/october/space-lase-darpa.html

Because enemy aircraft and missiles can come from anywhere, a laser weapon system on a military aircraft will need to be able to fire in any direction. However, the laws of physics say that a laser only can engage targets in front of an aircraft that is travelling close to the speed of sound – unless atmospheric turbulence can be counteracted. That’s exactly what Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has done in developing a prototype laser turret for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), paving the way for laser weapon systems on tactical aircraft.

The Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control (ABC) turret is the first turret ever to demonstrate a 360-degree field of regard for laser weapon systems on an aircraft flying near the speed of sound. Its performance has been verified in nearly 60 flight tests conducted in 2014 and 2015 using a business jet as a low-cost flying test bed. As the aircraft travelled at jet cruise speeds, a low-power laser beam was fired through the turret’s optical window to measure and verify successful performance in all directions.

The design uses the latest aerodynamic and flow-control technology to minimize the impacts of turbulence on a laser beam. An optical compensation system, which uses deformable mirrors, then is used to ensure that the beam can get through the atmosphere to the target. Left unchecked, turbulence would scatter the light particles that make up a laser beam, much like fog diffuses a flashlight beam.

“This advanced turret design will enable tactical aircraft to have the same laser weapon system advantages as ground vehicles and ships,” said Doug Graham, vice president of missile systems and advanced programs, Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. “This is an example of how Lockheed Martin is using a variety of innovative technologies to transform laser devices into integrated weapon systems.”

 

[ctg]

The US Navy has awarded a $53.1 million contract for a cutting edge solid state laser (SSL) weapons demonstrator, or prototype, Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corporation announced in a press release.

"[The company based at] Redondo Beach, California, is being awarded a $53,151,809 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Solid State High Power Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) program," the release, issued on Thursday, stated.

Recent advancements in the power and durability of commercially available SSL technologies have enabled the US Navy to execute a quick-reaction effort and operationally field an SSL weapon, the release continued.

"The Navy Laser Weapon System (LaWS)... was installed on USS Ponce in the summer of 2014. After a series of test and certification steps, LaWS is now the first-ever fully approved laser weapon system deployed by any US military service," it said.

Northrop Grumman describes itself as a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions to government and commercial customers worldwide, according to the corporation's web site.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Navy_orders_trial_solid_state_laser_model_999.html

 

[miheikki]

Laser miekka mainittu.

It's called a "thermal breaching torch".

US Air Force Torch Cuts Through Almost Anything Just Like A Lightsaber

November 19, 2015 | by Robin Andrews http://www.iflscience.com/technology/us-air-force-torch-cuts-through-almost-anything-lightsaber

photo credit: The device in action. EMPI
like a lightsaber would through a Sith Lord. It’s compact, versatile, and burns through whatever you put in its waywith a 2,760 degree celsius (5,000 degree fahrenheit) jet of vaporized metal.

This device – described as a handheld thermal breaching torch – might not produce a solid beam of colorful light, but it does physically resemble the famous Jedi weapon. Furthermore, it is designed to fit into the utility belt of anyone who really needs tobreak through a wall at a moment’s notice.

Invented by Energetic Materials & Products, Inc., its ammunition cartridges contain a solution of metal powder fuel and a metal oxide, a combination commonly referred to asthermite. This mixture – often using iron oxide and aluminum powder – is perfectly stable until strongly heated, whereupon a violent reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction occurs and a vast amount of thermal energy is rapidly released.

As the metal powder is more reactive than the metal oxide, the oxygen is stolen by the powder, with the resulting mixture being aluminum oxide and iron; the typical reaction is so hot that it can burn underwater. With no sort of containment, the heat will escape in multiple directions. This torch, on the other hand, focuses the intense thermal energy release into a miniature “jet,” allowing it to burn through specific, targeted spots.

Image credit: It’s not quite a bonafide lightsaber just yet, but it’s not too far off. Credit: Thomas S./Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Unlike a lightsaber, however, this torch definitely isn’t an elegant weapon for a more civilized age: It’ll mostly be used by emergency responders, law enforcement officers, and the military to quickly breach through doors, windows, barricades and even hostile vehicles. Lock picking often takes too long, and high explosives are a shade too unsubtle, so this tool fits somewhere in the middle: It’s quick, portable, and exceedingly efficient.

Check out the new torch below in its promotional video, accompanied by some appropriately dramatic music.

 

[oml]

Kätevän näköinen termiittipötkylä. Helpommin tuollaisia kuskaa mukana kuin Laikkaleikkuria, ja tuollaisella on turvallisempi avata ovessa oleva munalukko kuin räjähteillä jos siellä oventakana onkin 80-V mummo eikä terroristi.

 

[TBman]

Tuollaisia käytetään meillä, kun raudoitteita katkotaan määrämittaisiksi... On muuten eri näppärää, kun vertaa vaikka siihen, että alkaa polttopilleillä vatuloimaan 2" harjateräksiä... laittaa satsin noita paikalleen ja alkaa alimmaisesta nykimään käyntiin!

 

[Vääpeli]

Pojat itse väsnnyt raidetykin. Hieman on vielä tuotekehittelyssä hommaa ja ei tuo tehokaan päätähuimaa.

 

[SJ]

Tuollaisia käytetään meillä, kun raudoitteita katkotaan määrämittaisiksi... On muuten eri näppärää, kun vertaa vaikka siihen, että alkaa polttopilleillä vatuloimaan 2" harjateräksiä... laittaa satsin noita paikalleen ja alkaa alimmaisesta nykimään käyntiin!

Joo, ja sitten on myös ne kaikki tilanteet joissa mukana on jonkinlainen vaijeri.

Mutta sinä varmaakin osaisit sanoa, että kuinka kalliita nuo on? Tuollainen panos ei liene liian kallis, jos sitä raaskii käyttää raudoitustöissä? Tarvitseeko tuollaisen käyttö jonkinlaisen koulutuksen/luvan?

 

[TBman]

Joo, ja sitten on myös ne kaikki tilanteet joissa mukana on jonkinlainen vaijeri.

Mutta sinä varmaakin osaisit sanoa, että kuinka kalliita nuo on? Tuollainen panos ei liene liian kallis, jos sitä raaskii käyttää raudoitustöissä? Tarvitseeko tuollaisen käyttö jonkinlaisen koulutuksen/luvan?

No meillä on kaikilla luvat kunnossa, johtuu siitä, että olen hallituksen hommissa ja jenkit on tuossa tarkkoja.. Ei taida maksaa, kuin 30 taalaa kipale, eli hiukan arvokas, mutta hemmetin nopea..
Se on luvanvarainen laite käyttää, r-ainetta ja pikkuisen epämiellyttävän epävakaa vanhentuneena... Palaa hopummin, kun uudet paukut.

 

[Sarek1]

Joo, ja sitten on myös ne kaikki tilanteet joissa mukana on jonkinlainen vaijeri.

Mutta sinä varmaakin osaisit sanoa, että kuinka kalliita nuo on? Tuollainen panos ei liene liian kallis, jos sitä raaskii käyttää raudoitustöissä? Tarvitseeko tuollaisen käyttö jonkinlaisen koulutuksen/luvan?

Tultyökortti pitää ainakin olla jos tuollaisia kipinähommia siviilissä meinaa tehdä rakennusten tms. lähellä tai sisällä. Laite itsessään ei vaikuta monimutkaiselta käyttää joten käyttökoulutus riittänee? Kiinnostava peli, paljonkos nuo maksavat...

EDIT: @TBman ehtikin jo vastaamaan, kiitokset siitä.

 

[SJ]

No meillä on kaikilla luvat kunnossa, johtuu siitä, että olen hallituksen hommissa ja jenkit on tuossa tarkkoja.. Ei taida maksaa, kuin 30 taalaa kipale, eli hiukan arvokas, mutta hemmetin nopea..
Se on luvanvarainen laite käyttää, r-ainetta ja pikkuisen epämiellyttävän epävakaa vanhentuneena... Palaa hopummin, kun uudet paukut.

Jaa, no sellainen tapaus. Mietin vain minkälainen rulijanssi täällä kotopuolessa mahtaisi olla. Ei taitaisi saada edes käyttää, kun on liian tehokas laite. Etenkin jos päätyy ei-työkäyttöön.

 

[TBman]

Jaa, no sellainen tapaus. Mietin vain minkälainen rulijanssi täällä kotopuolessa mahtaisi olla. Ei taitaisi saada edes käyttää, kun on liian tehokas laite. Etenkin jos päätyy ei-työkäyttöön.

Tuo on muuten pikkuinen pati, mutta aika hyvä efortti on tuollakin. Voitte arvata millaisia ovat ne, joilla pätkitään ratakiskoa ja sellaista jämäkkää rautaa... Pyröplasman paino saattaa olla jopa 4 paunaa ja siitä tulee tottavie lämpöä ja sähinää!
Menee ratakisko poikki, kuin järvikorte.
Kotimaassahan näitä ei taida saada edes myydä..???

 

[BarrelNut]

General Atomics aloittaa 150 kW laserjärjestelmän testaamisen ensi kuussa.

The system being tested at White Sands is far too large to put on an airplane. But GA already has developed a smaller, self-contained Generation 3 High Energy Laser and is working on an even more compact Gen 4 HEL to respond to AFSOC commander Heithold’s goal of putting such a weapon on AC-130 gunships by 2020.

The possible targets for an AC-130 laser are many, Heithold said. The silent, invisible beam might be used prior to a hostage rescue mission, for example, to covertly disable motor vehicles, boats, airplanes or any other “escape mechanism” an enemy might use to move the hostages or flee from U.S. forces. The laser might also be used to disable or disrupt an enemy’s communications, he said.

“The reason that I want it on an AC-130 is, right now, when an AC-130 starts firing kinetic weaponry, everybody knows you’re there,” Heithold said. “What I want on the airplane is to be able to silently disable something.”

Heithold envisions equipping up to five AC-130Ws with a laser whose beam could be aimed by a directing device on the left side of the aircraft and used offensively.

AFRL is in the early stages of a separate program to develop a smaller laser that can fit inside a pod no larger than a standard 600-gallon external fuel tank and be used to defend legacy fighter aircraft such as the F-16 or F-15 against surface-to-air missiles. Known as SHiELD (Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator), this defensive laser is a pet project of Gen. Hawk Carlisle, who leads Air Combat Command.

Heithold said AFSOC is watching the SHiELD program but is not interested for now in pursuing the more difficult challenge of putting a defensive laser on its aircraft. “The hope is that the SHiELD program can learn from our efforts from putting an offensive capability on an AC-130,” Heithold said.

The Gen 3 system General Atomics has built can be entirely contained – laser system, power system and thermal management (cooling) system – in a box roughly 12 feet long, four feet wide and two feet high.

General Atomics haluaa laserin myös omaan Predatoriinsa, videolla visioidaan anti-ballistista ja DEAD/DEAD toimintaa johon häivekone + laser olisi oiva yhdistelmä.

 

[ctg]

US Air Force drones will one day fire high-tech laser weapons to destroy high-value targets, conduct precision strikes and incinerate enemy locations from the sky, senior service officials told Scout Warrior.

The Air Force Research Laboratory is already working on a program to develop laser weapons for manned aircraft to arm cargo planes and fighter jets by the mid-2020s. When it comes to drones, there does not yet appear to be a timetable for when fired lasers would be operational weapons - however weapons technology of this kind is moving quickly.

http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1630452-air-force-drones-may-fire-laser-weapons

Ollaan vuodessa 2016, eikä HEL ole pienentynyt tarpeeksi, joten mitä ihmeen litkua pentagonin herrat ovat imeneet jos he olettavat että lasut tulevat droneihin ensi vuosikymmenen puoleen väliin mennessä? Saisiko sitä meillekkin?

 

[Mustaruuti]

http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1630452-air-force-drones-may-fire-laser-weapons

Ollaan vuodessa 2016, eikä HEL ole pienentynyt tarpeeksi, joten mitä ihmeen litkua pentagonin herrat ovat imeneet jos he olettavat että lasut tulevat droneihin ensi vuosikymmenen puoleen väliin mennessä? Saisiko sitä meillekkin?

Eikös tuossa juuri sanottu, että rahtikoneluokkaan by mid 2020s ja droneihin "sitten joskus tulevaisuudessa"?

 

[ctg]

Eikös tuossa juuri sanottu, että rahtikoneluokkaan by mid 2020s ja droneihin "sitten joskus tulevaisuudessa"?

Lukuvirhe meikäläisellä

 

[Mikoyan]

Raidetykin testiammuntoja viimevuodelta. Yhdysvaltain merivoimat saanee tämän asetyypin testikäyttöön jo ensi suvena.

 

[ctg]

A new U.S. Navy large surface combatant might feature futuristic weapons that, until now, have been the province of science fiction.

According to a recent interview with a top naval official, the Navy envisions that its next-generation large surface combatant — or destroyer-cruise-size — ships might be armed with host of lasers, railguns and even particle beam weapons, in addition to regular missile tubes. The new design is intended as a replacement for both the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class and the Ticonderoga-class ships.

http://warisboring.com/articles/everything-the-u-s-navy-wants-its-laser-warships-to-do/

 

[ctg]

Rheinmetall and the German armed forces have completed a recent test of their high-energy laser effector on a German warship.

During the test, a 10-kilowatt high-energy laser, or HEL, was mounted on a MLG 27 light naval gun. The HEL was then used to track potential targets, which included unmanned aerial vehicles and stationary land targets.

The test marked the first demonstration of the HEL on a naval platform, which Rheinmetall says revealed insights for developing future maritime HEL effectors.

Rheinmetall revealed its high-energy laster effectors during the Defense and Security Equipment International exposition in September 2015. The effector is designed to engage low, slow and small aerial threats.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Se...on-German-warship/2701455913544/?spt=hs&or=si

 

[ctg]

http://defense-update.com/20160219_naval-laser.html

 

[ctg]

The U.S. Army's S&T (Science and Technology) effort is committed to pursuing high-energy lasers, said Mary J. Miller, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology. That effort has been used in an analysis of alternatives for the Indirect Fire Protection Capability program of record.

Responding to lawmakers' questions about how close the Army is to developing offensive and defensive directed-energy weapons, Mary J. Miller responded: "I believe we're very close."

Miller, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, and other experts testified before the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Feb. 24. Miller's topic was the Army's Science and Technology, or S&T, Program for fiscal year 2017.

Because it's being done in a "step-wise demonstration of capability," she said. "We have to make sure the lasers work and do the full set of scopes against the threats we project. And those threats include the counter-rockets, counter-artillery and counter-mortar as well as [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] and cruise missile threats."

The U.S. Air Force is flying every day with lasers under its transport aircraft, using them as infrared countermeasure system," so we too spun off lesser-capable laser systems and as we get larger power outputs and better thermal management out of smaller package lasers, we will build those powers into defensive to offensive capability as well," said Dr. David Walker, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology and Engineering, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.

Walker also said the Air Force is working with Special Operations Command to develop an offensive laser that will be fitted to AFSOC AC-130 gunships. Part of that technology, he said, includes "beam-steering and power and thermal management."

Dr. Stephen Welby, assistant secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, replied that all activities of each of the services are coordinated through the High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office.

http://www.armyrecognition.com/weap...suing_high-energy_laser_weapons_12702164.html