This is how Lockheed envisions its laser weapon being put to use. <\/p>\n
A laser hits its target in an instant. Getting to a practical laser weapon can feel like it's taking an eternity. <\/p>\n
This week brought signs of progress, one from the US Army and the other from defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Both involved laser weapons still a long way from being battlefield-ready. <\/p>\n
The more momentous news came from Lockheed, which on Thursday said that it has wrapped up development and testing of a nearly 60-kilowatt fiber laser for the Army. That's double the power of a system the company showed off two years ago that it said disabled a truck from a mile away. <\/p>\n
Those Lockheed systems got their juice by combining multiple lower-power fiber-optic lasers to produce a single, higher-power beam, a method that promises a relatively straightforward path to ever more powerful weapons. In the case of Lockheed's newer laser, the output was a single beam of 58KW, what the company called \"a world record for a laser of this type.\" <\/p>\n
Lockheed did not immediately provide additional details on the new laser. <\/p>\n
Research into laser weapons -- part of a larger field known as directed energy -- stretches back decades, but so far has yielded little more than prototypes and the occasional big-budget, high-profile flop. The attraction is easy to understand: A laser beam travels at the speed of light, far faster than missiles or bullets, and with incredibly precise targeting. Proponents talk of an ammo supply that's cheap and almost limitless -- so long as there's a handy source of electricity. <\/p>\n
All the branches of the military see laser weapons in their future, on a modest scale. The Navy has tried out systems that can disable the engines on small attack boats, and has even deployed a laser-weapon-equipped ship to the Persian Gulf. The Air Force envisions lasers on special operations aircraft. <\/p>\n
But laser systems are complex and delicate, unlike the rugged gear that a military depends upon to work reliably in harsh, dangerous conditions. The laser beams themselves would be subject to atmospheric conditions less favorable than those found in labs or test environments. <\/p>\n
That's where the Army's news this week comes in. Its Space and Missile Defense Command on Friday reported the results of some real-world testing of a vehicle-mounted laser weapon at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. <\/p>\n
Over five days of trials as February turned to March, the Mobile Expeditionary High Energy Laser 2.0 -- a testbed system mounted on the chassis of a Stryker armored vehicle -- had to engage with quadcopters and small fixed-wing unmanned aircraft. At just 5KW of power, it was a popgun compared with the system Lockheed just wrapped up testing. <\/p>\n
The MEHEL 2.0 just completed a trial by fire at the White Sands Missile Range. <\/p>\n
But the MEHEL 2.0, also a fiber laser, proved its worth, according to the Army. <\/p>\n
\"We learned the 5KW laser was able to defeat the targets,\" said Adam Aberle, the SMDC official overseeing the project, in a statement. \"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.\" <\/p>\n
It's the sort of testing that's been happening off and on for years. <\/p>\n
Aberle also acknowledged \"some limitations in the system,\" saying that \"we have plans to correct those deficiencies for future activities.\" <\/p>\n
The new Lockheed system, meanwhile, will be making its way to the Army, with much work planned for the coming months. It'll be integrated onto a larger vehicle than the Stryker, and its White Sands testing could happen in the middle of the Army's fiscal year 2018. <\/p>\n
Eventually, the Army is aiming for even higher power levels. <\/p>\n
\"Our ultimate goal is to have a 100KW laser on a vehicle. That's what we're going for,\" said John Cummings, an SMDC spokesman. \"We have to take baby steps to get there.\" <\/p>\n
CNET Magazine: Check out a sampling of the stories you'll find in CNET's newsstand edition.<\/p>\n
Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers. <\/p>\n
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Laser weapons see some light progress - CNET<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is how Lockheed envisions its laser weapon being put to use. A laser hits its target in an instant Continue reading