Silently, the drone glides on arid lands of New Mexico and suddenly it turns its direction by diving to the ground. Then we see a shell out of his pitcher to go straight to its target, but the shell has just been launched that explodes in flight. On the floor above a large sand-colored truck, a cubic mechanism swivels and pulls invisible laser rays to destroy targets one by one. The High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) is a laser weapon prototype that was developed for the US Army by Boeing manufacturer. Inside the truck, the engineer with reflective overall Electro physics, Stephanie Blount, aims targets on his laptop and directs the laser with a kind of joystick. She says it’s like a video game.
And that makes sense because we often see laser weapons in video games and science-fiction movies. The first true laser was demonstrated in 1960 and this technology is not science fiction. Boeing prototype is one of many laser weapons that developed in Europe and the United States. And this technology has become possible thanks to robust and affordable lasers that generate their shelves with optical fibers.
The effectiveness of these fiber laser weapons is measured in Kilowatt (KW) and much less powerful than the ambitions of the US Strategic Defense Initiative. This was a plan during the Cold War to create lasers that could destroy ballistic missiles that carried nuclear warheads. But even if these weapons are less powerful laser modern, it does not mean that they are ineffective in combat. Tests such as those conducted by Boeing show that these lasers are powerful enough to neutralize enemy threats such as mortars and homemade rockets. And the main advantage is that these laser weapons do not cost a fraction of the cost of conventional defense weapons.
Thus in 2014, the US Navy has shown a laser weapon called Laws which was mounted on a ship that could destroy small boats such as those used by Somali pirates or terrorists. And this experimental laser weapon is currently installed on the USS Ponce, an amphibious ship for the carrier patrolling the Gulf.
But laser weapons still face many obstacles from the increase in power up to the difficulty of using lasers in a fog of war or simply cloudy. But security experts are beginning to seriously consider the lasers in their strategies. Paul Scherer, a specialist in advanced technology at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) said: After a search that lasted nearly 50 years, the US military is the first to consider laser weapons for transactions field.
Searching for the perfect laser weapon
Laser weapons have always fascinated weapon designers, especially during the golden age of the Strategic Defense Initiative that was dubbed Star Wars and peaked between 1980 and 1990. Reflective vest is necessary. According to a report CNAS, the United States spent the equivalent of $ 2.4 billion in 1989 to try to develop laser weapons that can destroy ballistic missiles while being out of reach.
The trick with any weapon laser is to focus its energy on a tiny spot enough for the heat and damage the target. And above all we must do it with a machine that is compact and portable enough for the battlefield. Thus in 1996, the US Air Force launched the Airborne Laser project as one of its contributions to protect against ballistic missiles. But given that it was impossible at that time to generate megawatts needed to optical energy, the designers chose a chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) that could power through a chemical reaction. But the COIL was so impressive that he had to carry on the Boeing 747 and there was little room for the laser fuel. Lockheed had provided laser technology on this project.
According to Phillip Spangle scientist specializing in lasers Naval Research Laboratory: The atmosphere was another major problem, not only because the rays were disturbed by dust and natural turbulence, but their passage (those lasers) caused a kind thermal bloom. When the radius was spreading at a very high power, the atmosphere absorbed the laser light by heating the air and dispersing the laser. And this process completely dissipated the energy of the laser.
In 2010, the science of optics was advanced enough that Airborne Laser can destroy a ballistic missile in flight. But the logistical issues such as the size of the craft prompted the Defense Department to drop laser weapons. The department canceled the Airborne Laser project until early 2012. And the expenditure of the Department in lasers lowered at full speed from 961 million in 2007 to $ 344 million in 2014.
They had not wasted money, but we focused on fiber lasers that were more economical. Fiber lasers were invented in 1963 and since 1990; they are designed and promoted entirely by IPG Photonics which is located in Massachusetts. Other solid state lasers use rods or rigid plates or crystals discs for generating the radiation, but the fiber lasers use tiny optical fibers which are coated with compact coils. The fibers collect optical energy from laser diodes that can be found in DVD players. Obviously, these are not the same diodes, but improved versions that can amplify light for maximum energy. In addition, the electrical / optical conversion is more efficient at 30%. This efficiency is almost double of solid state lasers and very close chemical lasers such as the COIL. And since the reflective fibers are long and thin, they have a large surface area for heat quickly spread. Finally, these fiber lasers have a long service life and maintenance is much more affordable.