Energia-aseet: laser ym.

RADA Electronic Industries has received an order to supply its Multi-mission Hemispheric Radar system to an undisclosed customer in Far East Asia.

While the company did not reveal any details about its client outside of its relative location, it did reveal the customer intends to procure the technology to support its High Energy Laser ground-based tactical weapon system.

The High Energy Laser, or HEL, is used to support a variety of military missions, and is designed to engage short-range threats and afford allied ground forces more maneuverability.

"We have developed the MHR to meet the highest requirements of tactical, land-based force protection solutions," RADA CEO Dov Sella said in a press release. "The high energy laser market is gradually being recognized as the weapon for the future, and we are very happy to be involved in a continuously growing number of such programs."

Sella went on to note the company is involved in about ten HEL development programs in the United States and Europe. The Multi-mission Hemispheric Radar is already integrated into U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps platforms.

The radar protects mobile forces using S-band, pulse Doppler AESA technology to perform threat detection tasks.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/RADA_contracted_for_high_energy_laser_radars_999.html
 
Erittäin hyvä ja selkeyttävä artikkeli pulssienergiasta.

Pulsed power is a technology that consists in accumulating energy over some period of time, then releasing it very quickly. Since power equals energy (or work) divided by time, the idea is to emit a constant amount of energy in as short a time as possible. It will only last for a fraction of a second though, but that instantaneous power has very interesting applications. With this technology, power levels of more than 300 terawatts have been obtained. Is this technology for unlimited budgets, or is this in reach of the common hacker?

Consider for example discharging a capacitor. A large 450 V, 3300 uF electrolytic capacitor discharges in about 0.1 seconds (varies a lot depending on capacitor design). Since the energy stored in it is given by 1/2 CV², which gives 334 Joules of energy, the power delivered will be 3340 watts. In fact a popular hacker project is to build large capacitor banks. Once you have the bank, and a way to charge it, you can use it to power very interesting devices such as:

http://hackaday.com/2017/01/11/pulsed-power-and-its-applications/
 
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A close-up of the beam expander system used with DRDC’s high energy laser (HEL). Researchers at 2nd Canadian Division Support Base Valcartier are currently evaluating HELs, which have strong potential as battlefield tools. Photo provided by: Defence Research and Development Canada. ©2016 DND/MDN Canada.
http://www.armyrecognition.com/weap...about_latest_laser_technologies_11601173.html

The key priorities for the CA are finding safer ways to deal with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unexploded ordnance and unmanned threats such as drones.

“We’re working to see how we could neutralize unmanned vehicles using lasers,” Mr. Szymczak explained. “You could have an effect on the sensors and the optics by delivering that concentration of energy on the target. You could disrupt or destroy it. It’s been demonstrated by the United States that you can track and disable air platforms.”

Crude but devastating IEDs took a heavy toll in Afghanistan. HEL-based devices, including two on loan to the CA from the United States, offer the promise of a much safer way to disarm, neutralize and destroy them. One has been mounted to the turret of a Cougar vehicle as a demonstrator. The Cougar is one of three vehicles in the CA’s Expedient Route Opening Capability, which supports the detection and disposal of buried IEDs.

“What you can do is target specific components of the IED,” said Mr. Szymczak. “For example, if you see wires, you could cut the wires from a distance. The advantage is that you do it while keeping the soldiers out of harm’s way and neutralize the threat in a timely manner. The distance could be from a few metres to a few hundred metres. So it’s quite significant.”

Another aspect of upcoming research, he added, is countering the lasers that some future adversary could use against Canadian troops.

“Right now there are simple means that are being used, such as smoke as an obscurant,” Mr. Szymczak said. “There are different compositions of smoke for different threats – you hamper the propagation of the beam in the air. One day lasers will be used as a threat against us, so that’s something we have to keep in the back of our minds. We will be exposed to it sooner or later. As such, we have to consider emerging threats and ensure that the Army is not technologically surprised.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Jake Galuga, who has been observing DRDC’s work for the CA’s Directorate of Land Requirements, added that, while the technology has been proven, there is still some way to go in determining how it can best be integrated into the CA.

“It is going to take a while to figure out if and how we want to use it,” he said. “There are legal aspects to consider, there are practical aspects to consider and certainly developing any new technology takes resources.”

“High-energy lasers are not far-future items in terms of technological readiness,” he added. “The notion that this is 30, 40, 100 years down the road needs to be dispelled.”
 

The Earth's atmosphere is a constant annoyance for anyone trying to do anything useful with light. Even if you discount things like clouds, smog, and smoke, there are layers and pockets of air of varying temperatures that routinely make things go all wobbly. This is why most halfway decent telescopes are built on the tops of mountains, and all the best telescopes are out in space.

Things get even more difficult when you're trying to push a lot of light through the atmosphere with the goal of having it all end up exactly where you want it, as is the case with a directed energy weapon. Adaptive optics have been able to help somewhat, but wouldn't it be better if the atmosphere could actually do something useful? You know, for once?

BAE Systems has been working on a way to use lasers to actively reshape the atmosphere to turn it into a variety of optical tools. The Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens system (LDAL) uses powerful laser pulses to make air itself into lenses, mirrors, and even protective deflector shields.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/...rths-atmosphere-into-lenses-deflector-shields

The idea behind LDAL is that if you structure and control air with the same precision that we can build lenses out of glass, you could make a lens as big as you want. A lens of air projected from a moving aircraft that continually magnifies an arbitrary target would let you make a giant movable telescope out of the atmosphere itself. To make a laser deflector for defensive purposes, you do the same thing, except that instead of focusing the light, the lens would scatter the light randomly, making it impossible for the bad guys to concentrate a beam.
 
Researchers have found a way to trigger the innate, but previously hidden, ability of graphene to act as a superconductor - meaning that it can be made to carry an electrical current with zero resistance.

The finding, reported in Nature Communications, further enhances the potential of graphene, which is already widely seen as a material that could revolutionise industries such as healthcare and electronics. Graphene is a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms and combines several remarkable properties; for example, it is very strong, but also light and flexible, and highly conductive.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Graphenes_sleeping_superconductivity_awakens_999.html

http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14024
 
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Poly Technologies showed off The Silent Hunter, one of the world's most powerful laser weapons. It claims an output of at least 50-70 kilowatts, which would make it more powerful than the 33-kilowatt laser weapon systems (LaWS) currently deployed on the USS Ponce.

The laser is probably based on a smaller anti-drone laser, the Low Altitude Guard. That's enough to knock out automobiles by burning out their engines from over a mile away, as the 30-kilowatt Lockheed Martin ATHENA laser demonstrated in 2015.

The Silent Hunter uses fibre optic lasers (fibre optics doped with rare earth minerals), which provide weight savings over chemical lasers through increasing optical gain by kilometers of coiled fibre optics (as opposed to bulky chemical lasers). The Silent Hunter is likely to be scaled up and equipped with radars to complement its optical/infrared tracking system, making it a capable close range defense system against enemy missiles, artillery, drones and aircraft.
http://www.popsci.com/china-new-weapons-lasers-drones-tanks#page-3

Olisiko jenkit alimitoittaneet aseitaan ja kiinalaiset liioitelleet ja kummatkit kohtaa 50kW tienoilla todellisilla tehoillaan?
 
silent_hunter_laser.jpg


http://www.popsci.com/china-new-weapons-lasers-drones-tanks#page-3

Olisiko jenkit alimitoittaneet aseitaan ja kiinalaiset liioitelleet ja kummatkit kohtaa 50kW tienoilla todellisilla tehoillaan?
Tai sitten Kiinalaiset ovat tehneet tehokkaan aseen joka polttaa itsensä nopeasti kun jenkkien vähän maltillisempi kestää kauemmin, ken tietää.

Silti sellainen kutina että Amerikan mantereella piilotellaan jotain energia-asetta yleisöltä. Jotain Lawsia huomattavasti voimakkaampaa. Mutta aika näyttää senkin.
 
The PLA’s Potential Breakthrough in High-Power Microwave Weapons

Chinese scientists have reportedly achieved unexpected success in their development of a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon. This promising form of directed energy weapon combines “soft” and “hard kill” capabilities through the disruption or even destruction of enemy electronics systems. Such a powerful “new concept weapon” possesses unique advantages, including its potential speed, range, accuracy, flexibility, and reusability.

The PLA’s future HPM weapons could have multiple defensive and offensive functions that would enhance its combat capabilities. In the near term, the PLA’s probable employment of this HPM could be as a ship-borne anti-missile system or to reinforce China’s air defense systems. Potentially, such a weapon system would undermine the efficacy of even the most advanced U.S. missiles, such as the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) currently under development. Its likely applications could also include its use as an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon or incorporation with missiles in order to overcome enemy air defenses. Once operationalized, this new weapon could thus contribute to China’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities.

The PLA’s apparent breakthrough in HPM weapons reflects a track record of consistent progress over the course of decades of concentrated efforts. Given the limitations of the available information, it is difficult to compare the extent of U.S. and Chinese progress in this domain. Until the past several years, the U.S. military’s 50 or so years of research on HPM weapons could be dismissed as an apparent dead end. Only recently, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory successfully developed and is preparing to field the Counter-electronics High-Powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), which could target an enemy’s electronics from an aircraft or missile. While the full extent of current U.S. efforts is unknown, the PLA’s reported advance in the development of HPM weapons could indicate that Chinese capabilities may have the potential to keep pace with those of the United States in this disruptive technology.

Reports of a Major Breakthrough

In January, Huang Wenhua, deputy director of the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, received a first prize National Science and Technology Progress Award for his research on directed energy. This prize was evidently awarded for his development of a HPM weapon, given his extensive research on the topic and accounts of his remarks at the time. According to Huang, the system in question was initially tested successfully in November 2010 in northwest China, in what he referred to as the Huahai exercise. By his characterization, the completion of the exercise, verification, and experimentation is a “pioneering” achievement, since comparable advances had yet to be achieved elsewhere in the world. Huang also highlighted that this “disruptive technology,” in which a “major breakthrough” has occurred, would increase China’s capabilities in future electronic information confrontation.

At this point, the actual capabilities and current status of this weapon system remain unknown. In an operational context, its efficacy would depend on a number of factors, including its output power, effective range, firing rate, and power requirements. However, Huang’s frequent publications and patents indicate continuing progress. Based on his prior writings, this HPM weapon could be intended for initial employment as a ship-borne anti-missile system. For instance, in 2009, ahead of its initial test, Huang co-authored a paper focused on the utility of HPM weapons against anti-ship missiles. The authors noted that HPM weapons could be used to degrade and damage the electronics of an incoming missile, interfering with, for instance, its data link, GPS receivers, and other guidance mechanisms.

Contextualizing Chinese Advances in HPM Weapons

This reported breakthrough seemingly reflects the success of China’s long-term agenda for the research and development of HPM weapons. Since Chinese efforts to create directed energy weapons date back to the 1970s and have intensified since the 1990s, this apparent advance reflects the results of long-term research at a number of critical institutions and the consistent funding for their work. Throughout his career, over the course of nearly 20 years in this field, Huang Wenhua has been instrumental in research and development of HPM technology.

Since the early 1990s, Huang has engaged in research related to HPM weapons, under the aegis of the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology’s Key Laboratory of High-Power Microwave Technology. The National High-Technology Research and Development Plan or “863 Plan” has provided extensive funding to this research agenda, including through a subsidiary fund focused on HPM technology, with the guidance of its X07 expert group, of which Huang served as the director.

Future Prospects for the PLA’s HPM Weapons

Evidently, the PLA’s pursuit of HPM weapons has remained a consistent priority that will likely continue to receive high-level support at the level of the Central Military Commission (CMC). Notably, Liu Guozhi, who recently became the director of the new CMC Science and Technology Commission, previously served as the commander of the PLA’s Nuclear Test Base in Xinjiang and the director of the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology. Liu himself has received multiple awards for his own research on HPM weapons and pulsed power, initially collaborating with Huang on this research agenda. As such, he will likely prove a pivotal figure in the PLA’s efforts to advance this technological dimension of military innovation.

Looking forward, the PLA could continue to achieve significant progress in HPM weapons, along with multiple forms of directed energy weapons, seeking to rival U.S. technological advances. In response to the Third Offset, the PLA has only intensified its focus on these “new concept weapons,” while also developing countermeasures to U.S. directed energy weapons. Although it is difficult to evaluate their future trajectory and likely timeframe at this point, the eventual fielding of the PLA’s HPM weapons will serve as a critical force multiplier for its war-fighting capabilities.

Linkki: http://thediplomat.com/2017/03/the-plas-potential-breakthrough-in-high-power-microwave-weapons/
 
In an effort to counteract a network of US navigation, intelligence, and communication satellites capable of unmatched precision strikes, China is developing its own arsenal of electromagnetic railguns, powerful microwave weapons, and high-powered lasers. This weaponry could feature in future space-based 'light war' satellite attacks.

Researchers, Zeng Yu-quang, Wang Zhi-hong, and Gao Ming-hui first wrote about the notion of a space-based laser weapon in 2013 in the Chinese Optics journal. All three scientists work for leading laser-weapons technology organization the Institute for Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics.

"In future wars," they wrote, "the development of ASAT [anti-satellite] weapons is very important...Among those weapons, laser attack system enjoys significant advantages of fast response speed, robust counter-interference performance and a high target destruction rate, especially for a space-based ASAT system. So the space-based laser weapon system will be one of the major ASAT development projects."

If Beijing's military, which oversees the country's space program, provides the funding for the scientists' proposed five-ton chemical laser, it could be operational by 2023. The weapon would be capable of destroying enemy satellites in orbit from its position in lower Earth orbit.

A ground-based radar would be used to identify a target satellite, according to the article, with precise targeting ensured by a special camera. The beam of the laser would be focused by a membrane telescope.

The article revealed that, "In 2005, we have successfully conducted a satellite-blinding experiment using a 50-100 kilowatt capacity mounted laser gun in Xinjiang province...The target was a low orbit satellite with a tilt distance of 600 kilometers. The diameter of the telescope firing the laser beam is 0.6 meters wide. The accuracy of [acquisition, tracking and pointing is less than 5 [microradians]."

While giving congressional testimony last month before Congress, China military-specialist Richard Fisher, from the International Assessment and Strategy Center, confirmed that China had a laser weapons program and warned that Beijing could be rapidly militarizing space.

Asia Times quoted Fisher saying, "The Chinese government would not hesitate to use the lives of its astronauts as a shield to deceive the world about the real purpose of its space station,"and, "Having gained the advantage of surprise, the combat space station could begin attacks against key US satellites, thus blinding the US to the launch of new combat satellites that would attack many more US satellites."
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Inside_Chinas_High_Tech_Space_Based_Laser_Arsenal_999.html
 
U.S. Army personnel demonstrated combat capabilities using a Stryker armored vehicle integrated with a MEHEL laser weapon.

The weapon tested was the MEHEL 2.0, an upgraded version of the original 2kW device. The newer variant is able to produce 5kW beams.

The demonstration was conducted by a team of members from the Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Army Forces Strategic Command. During the event, the laser-equipped Stryker showcased its ability to defend against unmanned aircraft systems.

"The purpose of the JIDO UAS Hard-Kill Challenge was to assess and look at technology... to do a 'hard-kill' shoot down of Group 1 [unmanned aircraft systems] and inform decision-makers on the current state of technology and how it can deal with single and multiple targets," demonstration lead Adam Aberle explained in a press release.

Aberle went on to praise the platform's successful performance in repelling UAV threats, and discussed how the test revealed system limitations as a result of the MEHEL's upgrade from a 2kW to a 5kW capability.

"We learned from the event, and we have plans to correct those deficiencies for future activities," he added. "We learned the 5kW laser was able to defeat the targets. We were able to verify and show that we could put a radar and a laser on a platform so it could self-cue to targets and that was very successful."
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_Army_demos_laser_weapon_with_Stryker_vehicle_999.html
 
Ted Sargent and his team at the University of Toronto have done many things with quantum dots: boost solar cell efficiency, invent infrared imagers, optoelectronics you can apply with a paint brush. Now Sargent and his team have added a new spice to their recipe for colloidal quantum dots that promises to change the struggling prospects of quantum dot-based lasers. If the new approach lives up to its promise, it could lead to brighter, less expensive, and tunable lasers for video projectors and medical imaging among other applications.

In research described in the journal Nature, Sargent developed technology for producing quantum dots that have an elliptical, flying-saucer shape. That shape solves a problem with today’s quantum-dot-based lasers: They need to be continually stimulated with more and more power to keep them emitting light, and such stimulation eventually leads to overheating.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/...tum-dots-the-secret-to-better-brighter-lasers
 
2017 has already seen a spate of bold statements by Russia and US officials about the development and testing of laser weapons in their countries; earlier this week, the US announced that it is preparing to test a new high-powered laser weapon which can be mounted on army trucks.

On March 16, Lockheed Martin said that its new solid-state fiber laser can slice through targets with a record-breaking 58 kilowatts of direct power, and that in a matter of months it will deliver its High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck (HELMTT) to the US Army for testing.

Also on March, Lieutenant-General Brad Webb, the head of the US Air Force Special Operations Command, said that AC-130 aircraft-mounted laser weapons are likely be tested in the US before the end of this year.

"Most likely, the AC-130's laser will be used as an offensive weapon capable of disabling ground targets without destroying them completely and without causing 'side losses' or 'collateral damage' among civilians," Russian military expert Ilya Plekhanov wrote for RIA Novosti. Additionally, after unveiling a 30-kilowatt (kW) laser weapon in 2014, the US Navy is currently poised to demonstrate a next-generation directed-energy laser beam that is much more powerful.

In January 2017, Rear Admiral Ronald Boxall from the US Naval Surface Warfare Center said that the testing of a 150-kW laser weapon could happen within the next 12 months. The futuristic weapon is set to be used on a test ship, "then, a year later, we'll have that on a carrier or a destroyer or both," Boxall said.

The Navy has used a 30-kW laser weapon system aboard the USS Ponce during patrols of the Persian Gulf, and it has proven especially useful in taking down enemy drones. The 150-kW laser system will be capable of destroying not only drones, but also large air targets, such as cruise missiles and airplanes.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/B..._Brighter_Beams_for_Blasting_Enemies_999.html
 
An outstanding conundrum on what happens to the laser energy after beams are fired into plasma has been solved in newly-published research at the University of Strathclyde. The study discovered that the same forces that produce a bubble in plasma in the laser-plasma wakefield accelerator produce two additional low-energy but high-charge electron beams simultaneously with a low charge high energy beam. These high charge beams can have a thousand times more charge than the high energy beam.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Where_does_laser_energy_go_after_being_fired_into_plasma_999.html

"Some of the laser energy is converted to electrostatic energy of the plasma bubble, which has a diameter of several microns. Conventional accelerators store their microwave energy in copper or superconducting cavities, which have limited power-carrying capability.

"An interesting conundrum that has not been considered before is the question of where laser energy goes after being deposited in plasma. We know where some of this energy goes because of the presence of high-energy electrons emitted in a narrow, forward directed beam.

"One of these beams is emitted by a sling-shot action into a broad forward-directed cone, with several MeV (mega electron volt) energies and nanocoulomb-level charge. Paradoxically, another beam is emitted in the backward direction, which has similar charge but an energy of around 200 keV (kilo electron volt). These beams carry off a significant amount of energy from the plasma bubble.

"It is interesting to observe that answering a very basic question - where does the laser energy go? - yields surprising and paradoxical answers. Introducing a new technology, such as the laser-wakefield accelerator, can change the way we think about accelerators. The result is a very novel source of several charge particle beams emitted simultaneously.

"My research group has shown that the wakefield accelerator produces three beams, two of which are low energy and high charge, and the third, high energy and low charge."

Dr Enrico Brunetti, a Research Fellow in Strathclyde's Department of Physics and a member of the research group, said: "These beams can provide a useful high flux of electrons or bremsstrahlung photons over a large area, which can be used for imaging applications, or for investigating radiation damage in materials. If not properly dumped, they can, however, have undesirable side-effects, such as causing damage to equipment placed close to the accelerator.

"This is a particular concern for longer accelerators, which often use plasma wave guides based on capillaries to guide the laser beam over long distances. These low energy, high charge beams also carry a large amount of energy away from the plasma, setting a limit to the efficiency of laser-wakefield accelerators.

"This is an issue which needs to be taken into account in the future design and construction of laser-wakefield accelerators." An outstanding conundrum on what happens to the laser energy after beams are fired into plasma has been solved in newly-published research at the University of Strathclyde.
 
UES Inc. received a $48.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to research and develop laser materials.

The contract supports the branch's Blue Systems Survivability program. Work will include research for advanced laser hardened materials and techniques.

The U.S. Department of Defense says the goal of the research will be to develop a wide range of laser applications, but did not disclose what the products would be used for.

Work will be performed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and is expected to be complete by the end of June 2023.

UES Inc. received $505,000 in fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funds at the time of the contract award. The Air Force Research Laboratory will manage the project.

Lasers solutions are being developed for various uses within the U.S. military, including offensive and defensive platforms.

Earlier in March, the U.S. Army demonstrated combat capabilities for an armored vehicle equipped with a 5kW laser weapon.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_Air_Force_buys_additional_laser_materials_999.html
 
The coalition airstrike that recently killed more than 100 civilians in Mosul underscores a familiar challenge of dense, urban warfare: how can the military more precisely hit targets from the air? Lasers represent the apogee of precision and the Pentagon has several ongoing programs that will reach readiness in the coming years. The head of Air Force Special Operations Command recently said that lasers should absolutely be “part of the discussion” about how to hit terrorists — but so should the significant legal and practical obstacles that remain.

The military already uses low-power lasers to guide its weapons, from missiles to small arms. But recent advances in solid-state fiber lasers have renewed Pentagon interest in high-energy weapons that might do the damage by themselves, firing from everything from trucks to experimental helicopter drones.

When commanders and military leaders talk about how they will use such lasers, they are careful to describe them as primarily defensive, useful for disabling enemy drones, missiles, and even vehicles. Yet there is also considerable discussion about how, when, and why they might be used against enemy troops as well.

That emphasis on targeting the enemy’s stuff rather than enemy troops was the case on Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Marshall B. Webb, the head of Air Force Special Operations Command, laid out an operational scenario: pilots on a dangerous raid might use a laser mounted on an orbiting gunship to take out an enemy truck and a drone. Webb has said that he wants to test a laser aboard an AC-130J within a year.
http://www.defenseone.com/technolog...terrorists-lasers-yet/136615/?oref=d-topstory

“One of the things we need to do as we weaponize direct energy, we have to talk about the terms that we use so we can cooperate together,” said Holmes. “We need a joint-munitions-effectiveness manual approach … to these weapons. For a [Joint Direct Attack Munition or another smart bomb], I have a manual that tells me that: I’m going after this kind of target with this kind of airplane, I can count on success with a weapon of this size, or two of this size. We don’t have that for directed-energy weapons. So for operators to feel confident in it and use it…We have to develop that.”
 
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