welcome back lockheed could succeed in shrinking down its helios laser in order
to fit a future fighter plane before any new plane is ready to carry it
alternatively the company could offer the laser as an upgrade for existing fighters but
directed energy weapons require more electrical power than today's fighters easily can generate
us arms maker lockheed martin is developing a laser that could be small enough to arm a future
sixth generation fighter plane the high energy laser and integrated optical dazzler
and surveillance system is at the core of lockheed martin's electronic warfare work
the company expects to field a ship based helios system aboard an arleigh burke-class guided
missile destroyer in 2021 however technological advances are helping the company shrink the size
of helios from what is due for installation aboard a ship to what can possibly fit onto an airframe
a laser has obvious advantages it could be more accurate than a gun is a fighter could fire many
more laser shots than it could carry missiles potentially boosting the plane's magazine depth
lasers will help older fighters stay alive while flying the deadly skies the u.s air force
envisions placing laser weapon systems on fighter jets by the mid-2020s the service is working on
its own laser weapon shield a pod mounted laser that will protect fighters from incoming missiles
the system is called shield or self-protect high-energy laser demonstrator mounted on
the fuselage or wing of a fighter jet talls could shoot down incoming air-to-air and surface-to-air
missiles lockheed martin is working on a separate weapon tactical airborne laser weapon system talls
will use program data from shield today's fighter jets are largely limited to passive defenses
against incoming missiles pilots can take evasive action and try to fly outside an incoming missile
sensor arc launch flares to distract an infrared missile seeker or spread strips of aluminum foil
known as chaff to confuse a missile guided by radar a laser would be the first real
active air missile defense in the world of air combat actively trying to shoot a missile down
shield and talls will be pod mounted systems meaning they'll take up a station on a fighter
jet typically reserved for bombs missiles or sensor pods that makes them a bad fit
for stealthy aircraft such as the f-22 raptor or f-35 joint strike fighter as
the pods will break up the plane's carefully minimized radar signature
that said both planes already have a missile defense system already built in stealth technology
lasers such as shield and talls will likely go on fighters unable to hide from their adversaries
such as the air force's f-15e f-15c and new f-15ex eagle fighters f-16 fighting falcons and perhaps
even a-10c warthog attack jets trading the ability to carry one more missile or bomb for a laser
that could shoot down many incoming missiles is a no-brainer a laser weapon paired with
existing chaff and flare defenses could very well someday be controlled by an r2d2 type artificial
intelligence tasked with defending their warplanes from missile attack lasers will be useful airborne
weapons a laser can be powered by the airplane's engine removing the need for an onboard gun
magazine and providing a theoretically unlimited number of shots laser energy travels at the speed
of light removing ballistics from the targeting equation and making it impossible to dodge
however lasers do have a few downsides atmospheric effects particularly water moisture and smoke
particles quickly dilute to laser strength the farther a laser beam travels the weaker it grows
furthermore the laser must be focused on the fast-moving missile long enough to have an effect
unlike missiles whose high-explosive warheads deliver a lot of energy in a single devastating
explosion a laser projects a steady stream of concentrated light that heats the target until
something fails or explodes a missile traveling at ultra fast speeds could prove a difficult target
upon which to focus a beam a laser defense system like talls or shield is harder than it looks
the system must pack the ability to detect track and shoot down incoming missiles into a single
pod mounted package the laser must be powerful enough to fry an incoming missile's electronics
or cause damage to the skin or control systems including aerodynamic failure this is just the
beginning of aircraft lasers eventually laser weapons will go on almost all warplanes from
bombers to aerial tankers giving them some form of active protection as lasers become more
powerful they will become increasingly capable of engaging larger more complex targets like enemy
aircraft lasers will also become useful in engaging ground targets and some experts
predict capable of shooting down ballistic missiles shortly after launch shortly after you