MDA airborne laser demonstrator in the works

a reply to: Zaphod58
Put it on Hypersonic high end plane , absolute weapon.

a reply to: darksidius

Sure, as it passes over the missile fields in less than two minutes.

Believe it or not, and I know this is really hard to believe apparently, not everything needs to go Mach 12. Some missions are better suited to slow, long loiter, stealthy platforms.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Sure , hypersonic no need for missile defense , but if you can put a laser weapon on a UAV it could be a good idea to put the same on Hypersonic futur Platform , a true lightning attack capacity, hypersonic speed with speed of light weapon.

a reply to: darksidius

Which still would have barely two minutes over most target areas. That includes finding the target, locking on to the target, hitting the target, doing battle damage assessment, and reattacking the target as necessary.

Yeah, that's an outstanding idea.

a reply to: Zaphod58
No, my idea would be going hypersonic to the area , reduce speed to supersonic fire laser on target and push the engine to return at hypersonic for escape.

a reply to: darksidius

And the problem is that you have a huge IR signature coming in, because there is currently no way to reduce the signature enough to be VLO, that points a huge arrow at the area your platform is now flying subsonic at. That is going to leave it either vulnerable as hell, or having to run away, and not be able to hit the target it was going for.

a reply to: Zaphod58
You are right I take that , so the missile defense with laser stealth UAV must be better idea , just you have the need to have UAV flying all the time near the target. This kind of weapon could be interesting too for the B-21 Raider.

a reply to: Zaphod58

YAL-1 was an amazing flying laboratory. they used some nasty chemicals to pump the laser. I bet they won't get near the 20 kW output with a predator C. i don't know how they would get the power output and cooling, even with a U-2 it's pushing the limits of power generation for fiber lasers

a reply to: penroc3

They're getting solid state up to decent power levels. They're not anywhere near the YAL-1 power levels, but they also don't have to worry about scrapping the aircraft after 3 or four years because it's too contaminated for further use.

a reply to: Zaphod58

they must be going for a larger platform in their clean sheet work up, it could be a very useful platform but they would need at least a KC-135 sized area to dissipate the waste heat and the power generation


seems like a waste to put it into a drone, i did see a video of the Predator C with what looked like a laser system on it so who knows, granted i don't know their tricks for power generation but it's obviously better than using halides to pump the laser.


unless they can use something on the drone like a huge capacitor for one or two shots

a reply to: penroc3

Most of the laser armed UAV representations are IRCM, or HELLADS style lasers, not an ABM system. A UAV has advantages and disadvantages to being laser armed. It doesn't have life support or the weight for a pilot so it can carry more payload for the laser.

a reply to: darksidius

The missiles the US wants the MDA gear to take down are in known countries, with the DPRK being the favorite target. The airborne laser could loiter off the coast. Loiter time is important, getting there not so much.

The US at the moment doesn't have enough Cobra Ball to detect a DPRK launch. It wouldn't surprise me if the new platform monitored and provided boost phase destruction.

The MDA has been a money pit with dubious results. Twice Trump has mentioned hitting the target with 97% probability. These ground based tests are no secret. They have 10 hits out of 18 tests. The 97% number assumes four interceptors launched, something that has never been attempted. If the DPRK does a simultaneous launch of two ICBMs, that means the US needs 8 interceptors.

Back to the ABL, it is important to understand the difference between power and energy. Power is instantaneous. Energy is over time. Destruction of the target and waste heat in the platform are both an energy issue.