The US Army will receive the most powerful laser weapons in the world
The United States is developing a new pulsed laser weapon. According to the expectations of the US military, it should become more powerful than all currently existing models, and at once by three orders of magnitude.
On the website of the Department of the Pentagon, which is engaged in research on investment in small businesses, there is information about promising weapons that work on new physical principles. The new weapon is called a tactical ultrashort pulsed laser for army platforms. The US Army believes that such a laser can cause severe damage to an unmanned aerial vehicle and "fry its electronic guts" - so writes the American publication Popular Mechanics.
Most military lasers are continuous-action lasers, or lasers that hit a target with a beam of energy for some time. Continuous-action lasers effectively work as "blowtorches", heating the surface of a target, for example, an unmanned aerial vehicle, until some part melts, which will cause a failure in the control system of the device and its subsequent accident, or an explosion of fuel or combat parts of weapons loaded on the UAV.
At the same time, American observers see a number of problems in the implementation of this idea. As the article says, sometimes continuous-action lasers, often even of the kilowatt class, must focus on a single target point for several seconds to achieve the desired result.
However, Ultrashort Pulse Lasers (USPL) change the duration of the impact on the enemy by power, generating a pulse of laser energy with a power of 1 terawatt and a duration of 200 femtoseconds (one terawatt is equal to one trillion watts, and one femtosecond is equivalent to one quadrillionth of a second).
The latter method of neutralizing the threat is particularly interesting, writes PM. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is usually considered a side effect of a nuclear munition explosion, the process by which a nuclear bomb releases electromagnetic energy. The damaging effect of the electromagnetic pulse is caused by the occurrence of induced voltages and currents in various conductors. The effect of EMR is manifested, first of all, in relation to electrical and radio-electronic equipment. Communication, signaling, and control lines are the most vulnerable.
But natural phenomena can also cause EMR. For example, this happened in the so-called Carrington event of 1859. The Sun then produced an unusually large coronal mass ejection, releasing electromagnetic energy that ignited telegraph wires around the world.
However, the EMR factor in the US Army laser is useful, as it will help ensure the defeat of enemy drones. Even if the laser does not burn through the UAV's structural elements to cause it to fall, or if the drone relies on sensors that cannot be blinded by the laser beam, EMR can completely eliminate the drone as an aircraft.
"Ultrashort (extremely short) pulse lasers, UCI (PKI) lasers, femtosecond lasers are optical quantum generators capable of generating laser radiation pulses that contain a fairly small number of optical field oscillations, "he explained to Gazeta.En " Deputy Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Konstantin Makiyenko.
According to the expert, femtosecond laser systems have been known for a long time. Another thing is if the US Ground Forces manage to bring the power level to the values they claim.
Previously, " Gazeta.Ru " has repeatedly written about the development of various types of laser weapons.
In particular, in accordance with the National Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2021, in the field of combat operations in land theaters, it is planned to develop a system of high-precision long-range fire and integrated air and missile defense, including high-precision strike missiles, hypersonic missiles, and high-energy lasers.
According to the Program of high-energy laser demonstrators designed for self-defense of aircraft of the US Air Force, the first test of an air-based combat laser on board a fighter was planned to be carried out in 2021. However, it is now shifted two years "to the right".
The US Navy is also developing laser weapons at a high rate. It is believed that the US Navy will receive a high-energy laser and an integrated optical blinder, as well as an associated intelligence system, as early as 2021.
In particular, HELIOS is a 60-kilowatt laser with the ability to increase its power to 150 kilowatts. The combat laser is being developed by Lockheed Martin, which is also engaged in equipping the Aegis combat information and control system (Aegis) for destroyers and cruisers of the URO (DDG)." The laser will be fully integrated into the Aegis BIUS, as well as into the ship's power supply system.
The fact that the Americans plan to reach this level of combat laser power-150 kW - " Gazeta.Ru " wrote back in 2017.
Certain achievements are also noted in the US Army. For example, in March 2018, a US Army armored combat vehicle "Stryker", equipped with a mobile high-energy laser with a power of 5 kW, hit a small UAV at the Grafenwehr test site in Germany (Bavaria). Thus, the Americans demonstrated to their European allies how effective weapons are based on new physical principles.
Laser weapons, according to American experts, will protect the Stryker armored personnel carriers during combat operations, on the march and when deployed at advanced US bases. It is assumed that the lasers will be able to hit guided missiles, UAVs, mines from mortars and shells of the barrel artillery of a likely enemy.
Laser weapons, according to developers in the United States, allow you to minimize the cost of hitting enemy objects. A single-shot laser setup is relatively inexpensive. And the alternative is a multimillion-dollar guided missile.
Mikhail Khodarenok
