Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says

[DJ_Viper]

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says – Western Media

westernmedia.org

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says
September 30, 2021/0 Comments/in Military News/

If the Pentagon intends to be laser-focused in its goal to improve directed-energy weapons, it has just a few years to decide whether it wants to invest heavily in the new technology, according to the former director of the Missile Defense Agency.
“There are some things that kinetic weapons will not be able to do” now or in the future, said Henry “Trey” Obering, an executive vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton who leads the company’s directed energy innovation team.
“The big difference between kinetic energy weapons and directed energy is obvious: It’s the speed of light, and where would you need a speed-of-light weapon?” he said, pointing out that the need to stop a fast weapon is ubiquitous on the current and future battlefield, including space.
Obering said the Pentagon — should it get its $700-billion-plus spending boost — could afford to throw additional resources toward the directed energy fight. It’s an investment, much like the one the Pentagon made years ago to smart, laser- or GPS-guided munitions as opposed to dumb bombs that paid off, starting with Operation Desert Storm.
Related content:
“Even if we increase [the funding] to $2 [billion] to 3 billion per year, I think you will see dramatic improvements and dramatic advances,” said Obering, a former Air Force lieutenant general, fighter pilot and NASA space shuttle engineer, in a recent interview with Military.com.
He explained that directed energy-detection weapons, such as lasers, microwaves or even particle beams, will not be the solution to countering other high-speed weapons but, rather, would act as a complementary enhancement.
Using lasers, “You’re tracking and your engagement is almost instantaneous,” Obering said. “You can bring down drones efficiently and very effectively” with lasers or high-powered microwaves, he said.
Another potential application is for boost-phase missile defense.
“A speed-of-light weapon like … a laser … would be very effective in the boost phase” before a rocket travels across hundreds of miles, Obering said. This could also apply to adversary hypersonic missiles, he added.
The best place to put those weapons, he posited?
Space.
“You don’t have the atmosphere to deal with,” he said. “Let’s say that you need enough lethality to shoot down a boosting missile in the atmosphere. If you elevate … a laser out of the atmosphere, you can achieve the exact same lethality with about half the power because you don’t have to deal with the atmosphere. Your effective range increases in space, and the amount of power that you need decreases.
“I think that that’s where this country needs to go. We need to be serious about establishing a space-based capability,” Obering said, adding that the technology, with proper funding, could be developed within the next decade.
Last month, Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said the Pentagon plans to boost its investment in the laser technology realm for missile defense over the next few budget cycles.
“You need another factor of three to four to have as space control weapon, a missile defense capability — space-based, boost-phase or midcourse capability — with a large directed-energy weapon,” Griffin said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, as reported by Defense News.
What the Pentagon wants to invest in is high power and increased range — hundreds of kilometers in range — to be able to “go after missiles” in their boost phase, Obering said.
“If you look at the range of the laser the Navy put on the USS Ponce, what the Army‘s doing with the laser on the Stryker vehicle … those applications would be relatively low-powered, tens of kilowatts and relatively short ranges,” he said.
They merely scratch the surface.
“There’s a lot of technology that has [advanced] in the solid-state, fiber or hybrid lasers … where the efficiency of the diodes has dramatically increased. We’ve also made tremendous strides in new materials and materials science,” Obering said, referring to lightweight products that are as strong as titanium.
So to improve on the capability, the Pentagon likely will analyze a multitude of ingredients for investment: laser power scaling, or increasing its output power; beam quality, or intensity and coherence of the beam; and tailored size, weight and power input requirements, Obering said.
If done correctly, “you can kill multiple missiles with a single laser,” he said.
“There are some applications in which you don’t want your adversary to know that you’re there, and you want to be able to disable certain capabilities to prevent from escaping … or to de-escalate … or a number of attributes that you want to take advantage of,” he said.
But the application doesn’t need to be super sophisticated: The technology could be used at checkpoints in hot war zones where a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device could attack a base.
“Using high-powered microwave, you could actually shut those vehicles down,” he said.
Adversaries such as Russia or China also are looking for more advanced ways of using lasers, Obering said. “We have real threats, existential threats that could be on par with us. And we haven’t had that since the height of the Cold War.”
— Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

This is a great site for world news, defense related news from all over the globe, along with hi-tech advancements, sports and essentially covers all news media.

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says – Western Media

westernmedia.org

@HRK @KAL-EL @raptor22 @MH.Yang @Deino @Bilal Khan (Quwa) @bilibili @Thorough Pro @tower9 @Waqas @MastanKhan @Khan vilatey @The SC @nang2 @raptor22 @aziqbal @F-22Raptor @Hakikat ve Hikmet @VCheng @K_Bin_W @Falconless @Windjammer @JamD @Oracle @FOOLS_NIGHTMARE @Waterboy @HammerHead081 @Path-Finder @Maarkhoor @POPEYE-Sailor

Any updates on what's going on in China, Pakistan, India and other regions wrt to Laser weapons tech and associated advancements?

 

[nang2]

Great! Now let's see who has the biggest battery (pun intended).

 

[DJ_Viper]

Great! Now let's see who has the biggest battery (pun intended).

I can personally assure you, there is a LOT more than just a battery included in this power pack . What R&D systems are being used in China for long range LASER weapons? I know there are a few projects ongoing,

 

[nang2]

I can personally assure you, there is a LOT more than just a battery included in this power pack . What R&D systems are being used in China for long range LASER weapons? I know there are a few projects ongoing,

At this stage, I believe all projects are still in early phases, much like early firearm, which was hard to handle and cumbersome to carry. They haven't even yet been used in actual combats.

 

[The SC]

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says – Western Media

westernmedia.org

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says
September 30, 2021/0 Comments/in Military News/

If the Pentagon intends to be laser-focused in its goal to improve directed-energy weapons, it has just a few years to decide whether it wants to invest heavily in the new technology, according to the former director of the Missile Defense Agency.
“There are some things that kinetic weapons will not be able to do” now or in the future, said Henry “Trey” Obering, an executive vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton who leads the company’s directed energy innovation team.
“The big difference between kinetic energy weapons and directed energy is obvious: It’s the speed of light, and where would you need a speed-of-light weapon?” he said, pointing out that the need to stop a fast weapon is ubiquitous on the current and future battlefield, including space.
Obering said the Pentagon — should it get its $700-billion-plus spending boost — could afford to throw additional resources toward the directed energy fight. It’s an investment, much like the one the Pentagon made years ago to smart, laser- or GPS-guided munitions as opposed to dumb bombs that paid off, starting with Operation Desert Storm.
Related content:
“Even if we increase [the funding] to $2 [billion] to 3 billion per year, I think you will see dramatic improvements and dramatic advances,” said Obering, a former Air Force lieutenant general, fighter pilot and NASA space shuttle engineer, in a recent interview with Military.com.
He explained that directed energy-detection weapons, such as lasers, microwaves or even particle beams, will not be the solution to countering other high-speed weapons but, rather, would act as a complementary enhancement.
Using lasers, “You’re tracking and your engagement is almost instantaneous,” Obering said. “You can bring down drones efficiently and very effectively” with lasers or high-powered microwaves, he said.
Another potential application is for boost-phase missile defense.
“A speed-of-light weapon like … a laser … would be very effective in the boost phase” before a rocket travels across hundreds of miles, Obering said. This could also apply to adversary hypersonic missiles, he added.
The best place to put those weapons, he posited?
Space.
“You don’t have the atmosphere to deal with,” he said. “Let’s say that you need enough lethality to shoot down a boosting missile in the atmosphere. If you elevate … a laser out of the atmosphere, you can achieve the exact same lethality with about half the power because you don’t have to deal with the atmosphere. Your effective range increases in space, and the amount of power that you need decreases.
“I think that that’s where this country needs to go. We need to be serious about establishing a space-based capability,” Obering said, adding that the technology, with proper funding, could be developed within the next decade.
Last month, Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said the Pentagon plans to boost its investment in the laser technology realm for missile defense over the next few budget cycles.
“You need another factor of three to four to have as space control weapon, a missile defense capability — space-based, boost-phase or midcourse capability — with a large directed-energy weapon,” Griffin said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, as reported by Defense News.
What the Pentagon wants to invest in is high power and increased range — hundreds of kilometers in range — to be able to “go after missiles” in their boost phase, Obering said.
“If you look at the range of the laser the Navy put on the USS Ponce, what the Army‘s doing with the laser on the Stryker vehicle … those applications would be relatively low-powered, tens of kilowatts and relatively short ranges,” he said.
They merely scratch the surface.
“There’s a lot of technology that has [advanced] in the solid-state, fiber or hybrid lasers … where the efficiency of the diodes has dramatically increased. We’ve also made tremendous strides in new materials and materials science,” Obering said, referring to lightweight products that are as strong as titanium.
So to improve on the capability, the Pentagon likely will analyze a multitude of ingredients for investment: laser power scaling, or increasing its output power; beam quality, or intensity and coherence of the beam; and tailored size, weight and power input requirements, Obering said.
If done correctly, “you can kill multiple missiles with a single laser,” he said.
“There are some applications in which you don’t want your adversary to know that you’re there, and you want to be able to disable certain capabilities to prevent from escaping … or to de-escalate … or a number of attributes that you want to take advantage of,” he said.
But the application doesn’t need to be super sophisticated: The technology could be used at checkpoints in hot war zones where a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device could attack a base.
“Using high-powered microwave, you could actually shut those vehicles down,” he said.
Adversaries such as Russia or China also are looking for more advanced ways of using lasers, Obering said. “We have real threats, existential threats that could be on par with us. And we haven’t had that since the height of the Cold War.”
— Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

This is a great site for world news, defense related news from all over the globe, along with hi-tech advancements, sports and essentially covers all news media.

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says – Western Media

westernmedia.org

@HRK @KAL-EL @raptor22 @MH.Yang @Deino @Bilal Khan (Quwa) @bilibili @Thorough Pro @tower9 @Waqas @MastanKhan @Khan vilatey @The SC @nang2 @raptor22 @aziqbal @F-22Raptor @Hakikat ve Hikmet @VCheng @K_Bin_W @Falconless @Windjammer @JamD @Oracle @FOOLS_NIGHTMARE @Waterboy @HammerHead081 @Path-Finder @Maarkhoor @POPEYE-Sailor

Any updates on what's going on in China, Pakistan, India and other regions wrt to Laser weapons tech and associated advancements?

China: Air, sea and land Laser weapons..

 

[Muhammad Saftain Anjum]

@JamD Pakistan naval cheif clearly said we are working on Directed Energy Weapons.Aircheif also hinted about it.so I am optimistic that Pakistan is working on this technology.share your thoughts.

 

[JamD]

@JamD Pakistan naval cheif clearly said we are working on Directed Energy Weapons.Aircheif also hinted about it.so I am optimistic that Pakistan is working on this technology.share your thoughts.

I really don't know anything about this area.

 

[HRK]

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says – Western Media

westernmedia.org

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says
September 30, 2021/0 Comments/in Military News/

If the Pentagon intends to be laser-focused in its goal to improve directed-energy weapons, it has just a few years to decide whether it wants to invest heavily in the new technology, according to the former director of the Missile Defense Agency.
“There are some things that kinetic weapons will not be able to do” now or in the future, said Henry “Trey” Obering, an executive vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton who leads the company’s directed energy innovation team.
“The big difference between kinetic energy weapons and directed energy is obvious: It’s the speed of light, and where would you need a speed-of-light weapon?” he said, pointing out that the need to stop a fast weapon is ubiquitous on the current and future battlefield, including space.
Obering said the Pentagon — should it get its $700-billion-plus spending boost — could afford to throw additional resources toward the directed energy fight. It’s an investment, much like the one the Pentagon made years ago to smart, laser- or GPS-guided munitions as opposed to dumb bombs that paid off, starting with Operation Desert Storm.
Related content:
“Even if we increase [the funding] to $2 [billion] to 3 billion per year, I think you will see dramatic improvements and dramatic advances,” said Obering, a former Air Force lieutenant general, fighter pilot and NASA space shuttle engineer, in a recent interview with Military.com.
He explained that directed energy-detection weapons, such as lasers, microwaves or even particle beams, will not be the solution to countering other high-speed weapons but, rather, would act as a complementary enhancement.
Using lasers, “You’re tracking and your engagement is almost instantaneous,” Obering said. “You can bring down drones efficiently and very effectively” with lasers or high-powered microwaves, he said.
Another potential application is for boost-phase missile defense.
“A speed-of-light weapon like … a laser … would be very effective in the boost phase” before a rocket travels across hundreds of miles, Obering said. This could also apply to adversary hypersonic missiles, he added.
The best place to put those weapons, he posited?
Space.
“You don’t have the atmosphere to deal with,” he said. “Let’s say that you need enough lethality to shoot down a boosting missile in the atmosphere. If you elevate … a laser out of the atmosphere, you can achieve the exact same lethality with about half the power because you don’t have to deal with the atmosphere. Your effective range increases in space, and the amount of power that you need decreases.
“I think that that’s where this country needs to go. We need to be serious about establishing a space-based capability,” Obering said, adding that the technology, with proper funding, could be developed within the next decade.
Last month, Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said the Pentagon plans to boost its investment in the laser technology realm for missile defense over the next few budget cycles.
“You need another factor of three to four to have as space control weapon, a missile defense capability — space-based, boost-phase or midcourse capability — with a large directed-energy weapon,” Griffin said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, as reported by Defense News.
What the Pentagon wants to invest in is high power and increased range — hundreds of kilometers in range — to be able to “go after missiles” in their boost phase, Obering said.
“If you look at the range of the laser the Navy put on the USS Ponce, what the Army‘s doing with the laser on the Stryker vehicle … those applications would be relatively low-powered, tens of kilowatts and relatively short ranges,” he said.
They merely scratch the surface.
“There’s a lot of technology that has [advanced] in the solid-state, fiber or hybrid lasers … where the efficiency of the diodes has dramatically increased. We’ve also made tremendous strides in new materials and materials science,” Obering said, referring to lightweight products that are as strong as titanium.
So to improve on the capability, the Pentagon likely will analyze a multitude of ingredients for investment: laser power scaling, or increasing its output power; beam quality, or intensity and coherence of the beam; and tailored size, weight and power input requirements, Obering said.
If done correctly, “you can kill multiple missiles with a single laser,” he said.
“There are some applications in which you don’t want your adversary to know that you’re there, and you want to be able to disable certain capabilities to prevent from escaping … or to de-escalate … or a number of attributes that you want to take advantage of,” he said.
But the application doesn’t need to be super sophisticated: The technology could be used at checkpoints in hot war zones where a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device could attack a base.
“Using high-powered microwave, you could actually shut those vehicles down,” he said.
Adversaries such as Russia or China also are looking for more advanced ways of using lasers, Obering said. “We have real threats, existential threats that could be on par with us. And we haven’t had that since the height of the Cold War.”
— Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

This is a great site for world news, defense related news from all over the globe, along with hi-tech advancements, sports and essentially covers all news media.

Laser Weapons Are Future for Missile Defense, Space, Expert Says – Western Media

westernmedia.org

@HRK @KAL-EL @raptor22 @MH.Yang @Deino @Bilal Khan (Quwa) @bilibili @Thorough Pro @tower9 @Waqas @MastanKhan @Khan vilatey @The SC @nang2 @raptor22 @aziqbal @F-22Raptor @Hakikat ve Hikmet @VCheng @K_Bin_W @Falconless @Windjammer @JamD @Oracle @FOOLS_NIGHTMARE @Waterboy @HammerHead081 @Path-Finder @Maarkhoor @POPEYE-Sailor

Any updates on what's going on in China, Pakistan, India and other regions wrt to Laser weapons tech and associated advancements?

China has showcased laser weapon as export product as defence weapon against small drones, I think Tukey also has something similar against small drones.

If I am not wrong I read somewhere Pakistan was also conducting inhouse study about this system 2-3 years back but as of now no report about laser weapon system in Pakistan.

 

[MH.Yang]

As far as I know, the research progress of laser weapons in China and the United States is similar.
Today's laser weapons are still a long way from being practical. The main problem is poor stability and strict requirements for meteorological conditions. If the target runs faster than ATP, or there is rain, fog, dust and smoke. The laser weapon will lose its function. Moreover, the energy storage material is inefficient and the power supply is too large. If there is no new technological revolution in the energy storage system, only vehicle laser or shipborne laser can be considered.
Conclusion: laser weapons can only be used for performance and display in sunny days.

 

[DJ_Viper]

As far as I know, the research progress of laser weapons in China and the United States is similar.
Today's laser weapons are still a long way from being practical. The main problem is poor stability and strict requirements for meteorological conditions. If the target runs faster than ATP, or there is rain, fog, dust and smoke. The laser weapon will lose its function. Moreover, the energy storage material is inefficient and the power supply is too large. If there is no new technological revolution in the energy storage system, only vehicle laser or shipborne laser can be considered.
Conclusion: laser weapons can only be used for performance and display in sunny days.

That's actually inaccurate. The US has deployed operational LASER weapons throughout it's Naval and Air assets. I can understand that the range might be limited to a 25 miles or less, but it's sufficient to take out approaching enemies on land, air and sea irrespective of the weather. Take a look. Btw, the LASER pods are already out for the -16 and -35 initially.

 

[MH.Yang]

That's actually inaccurate. The US has deployed operational LASER weapons throughout it's Naval and Air assets. I can understand that the range might be limited to a 25 miles or less, but it's sufficient to take out approaching enemies on land, air and sea irrespective of the weather. Take a look. Btw, the LASER pods are already out for the -16 and -35 initially.

Just deployment, it doesn't make any sense. China also has deployed laser weapons, but it still lacks decisive power. There are too many shortcomings, we still need time to wait.
If the USA has solved those problems, it shows that the progress of American laser weapons has surpassed that of China.

 

[DJ_Viper]

Just deployment, it doesn't make any sense. China also has deployed laser weapons, but it still lacks decisive power. There are too many shortcomings, we still need time to wait.
If the USA has solved those problems, it shows that the progress of American laser weapons has surpassed that of China.
View attachment 781490

Does China has a specific use case? I know the US was after two use cases for which, it's solved the issues. Now as the tech matures and more experience is gained, more range will be added on.

The use cases included LASER for anti-missile systems for USAF + USN and USN naval protection by burning out the engines of anything coming towards USN ships. I've watched a couple of demos where "incoming" boats / ships engines were fried. I still call this generation 1.0 of LASER systems though.

 

[waqasmwi]

@JamD Pakistan naval cheif clearly said we are working on Directed Energy Weapons.Aircheif also hinted about it.so I am optimistic that Pakistan is working on this technology.share your thoughts.

Yes. "Working " means "talking about" and after many years, buying it from China.

 

[DF41]

Bear in mind China laser getting powerful enough to break apart vacuum and ripped emptiness apart

We Could Soon Get Lasers Powerful Enough to Literally Rip Emptiness Apart

Lasers powerful enough to tear the fabric of matter itself are being developed in a special laboratory in China, potentially giving scientists the chance to create and study experimental environments unlike anything we have on Earth.

www.sciencealert.com

We Could Soon Get Lasers Powerful Enough to Literally Rip Emptiness Apart​

PHYSICS25 January 2018
ByDAVID NIELD

(Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock)
Lasers powerful enough to tear the fabric of matter itself are being developed in a special laboratory in China, potentially giving scientists the chance to create and study experimental environments unlike anything we have on Earth.

The stats behind these lasers are impressive: One has already reached a peak of 5.3 million billion watts or petawatts (PW), which is around 500 times the power of all the world's electrical grids combined. There are plans to double that figure before 2018 is out, and yet these intense bursts of light last less than one trillionth of a second.

Meanwhile a new 100-PW laser is on the drawing board that could produce a pulse of light capable of ripping electrons and positrons (the antimatter counterparts to electrons) right out of empty space, showing that matter and energy are interchangeable – as Einstein so famously proposed with E=mc^2.

"That would be very exciting," the lead scientist on the project, physicist Ruxin Li, told Edwin Cartlidge at Science. "It would mean you could generate something from nothing."

That will be the kind of power China can put into a military laser.

Maybe not the full 5.3 million billion watts , or even 100PW laser

Let us say just a mere 1 % or even 0.01 % of that power be in Chinese military laser.


How will that compare with Murica top of the line and yet to be made into prototype? and yet to be demonstrated.


HELSI is a Pentagon initiative to develop a new 300-kilowatt-class laser weapon prototype for technology demonstration.


That was 4 years ago. And then China put blanket and cone of silence on that developement.

But again, China first invented gunpowder, and then used that for fireworks for beauty in sky and to compose poetry by and not as bombs to kill others.

Until events forced them to do that.

China seemed to clam down on further news, perhaps going to give nasty surprise to those countries uppidty enough to think they can bully China.

Besterest other countries be friendly thereby ensuring China devote the brain and will and resources to pure science and breaking about vacuum.

Then to see China instead of enjoying the sights of fireworks , turn to making bombs and guns to defend themselves with.

Or Murica really want to tango with China?

Murica choice

 

[DF41]

https://www.science.org/content/art...-so-powerful-they-could-rip-apart-empty-space

Physicists are planning to build lasers so powerful they could rip apart empty space​

China's 'Station of Extreme Light' could be first laser to reach 100 petawatts​

Inside a cramped laboratory in Shanghai, China, physicist Ruxin Li and colleagues are breaking records with the most powerful pulses of light the world has ever seen. At the heart of their laser, called the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF), is a single cylinder of titanium-doped sapphire about the width of a Frisbee. After kindling light in the crystal and shunting it through a system of lenses and mirrors, the SULF distills it into pulses of mind-boggling power. In 2016, it achieved an unprecedented 5.3 million billion watts, or petawatts (PW). The lights in Shanghai do not dim each time the laser fires, however. Although the pulses are extraordinarily powerful, they are also infinitesimally brief, lasting less than a trillionth of a second. The researchers are now upgrading their laser and hope to beat their own record by the end of this year with a 10-PW shot, which would pack more than 1000 times the power of all the world's electrical grids combined.

The group's ambitions don't end there. This year, Li and colleagues intend to start building a 100-PW laser known as the Station of Extreme Light (SEL). By 2023, it could be flinging pulses into a chamber 20 meters underground, subjecting targets to extremes of temperature and pressure not normally found on Earth, a boon to astrophysicists and materials scientists alike. The laser could also power demonstrations of a new way to accelerate particles for use in medicine and high-energy physics. But most alluring, Li says, would be showing that light could tear electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons, from empty space—a phenomenon known as "breaking the vacuum." It would be a striking illustration that matter and energy are interchangeable, as Albert Einstein's famous E=mc2 equation states. Although nuclear weapons attest to the conversion of matter into immense amounts of heat and light, doing the reverse is not so easy. But Li says the SEL is up to the task. "That would be very exciting," he says. "It would mean you could generate something from nothing."

The Chinese group is "definitely leading the way" to 100 PW, says Philip Bucksbaum, an atomic physicist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.



A cylinder the width of a Frisbee.

So if only 1% of that power or even 0.1 or 0.001% pf that million billion watt is distilled into a military weapon, the cylinder might be even smaller than width of Frisbee.

And fire much much much more than 100 times the power of the highest Murican miltary laser.