AC130 Ghost Rider and Stryker IFV Upgrading to Lasers and Microwaves

Well I woke up the other day, and remembered we live in the future now. So I find a hotspot and do some weekly reading, and my reading leads me to two Defense Department staples of current and past operations getting some neat upgrades. The AC 130J Ghostrider is/has received a lassr cannon for testing. Lock heed Martin announced last month that factory acceptance testing has been completed and is ready for delivery to the air force.

Southfront
The United States’ AC-130 gunship warplane received a new upgrade. It is a laser cannon.

Lockheed Martin has completed factory acceptance testing and delivered the new laser weapon to the Air Force.

It is a 60-kilowatt laser weapon, which is not enough to go through the armor of a battle tank, but is still deadly enough.

The Airborne High Energy Laser (AHEL) has been in development at Lockheed Martin since at least 2019, when the company gained a contract for integration, testing, and demonstration of such a weapon on the AC-130J warplane.

What capabilities the AHEL will bring to the AC-130J remain to be seen, as very little has been revealed. The gunship, nicknamed “Hell in the Sky,” is equipped with three side-firing weapons, including a 25mm Gatling gun, a 40mm Bofors cannon, and a 105mm howitzer. The laser is the fourth weapon it will feature.

Thats really neat. Next up Epirus Inc team up with General Dynamics to combat drone swarms on Styker IFV's.

Southfront
The United States’ Army is about to upgrade its Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) with a better mobile Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) capability.

The manufacturer, General Dynamics Land Systems teamed up with counter-drone startup Epirus Inc. to deliver counter unmanned aerial systems technology.

The partnership will initially integrate Epirus’s Leonidas directed energy system and broader high-power microwave technology onto the Stryker vehicles.

Very very sci-fi, but cool.

ummm I am pretty sure the order was for sharks with freakin laser beams...

a reply to: worldstarcountry

The current load for the AC-130J is a 30mm and 105mm. They removed the 40mm before it ever entered production. They carry Griffin and Hellfire missiles, and SDBs to give them some stand-off capability.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It seems that they would have to upgrade their electrical generation systems for this. Are they still only running generators on two of their motors?

a reply to: JIMC5499

The J uses 60/90Kv generators to provide DC power. I'm not sure if they're back to four though. I believe they are, but I'm not positive.

a reply to: Zaphod58

that laser strong enough to kill a human?

a reply to: yuppa

No. Currently it's only a 60kw solid state laser. That won't go through armor, or a person, but will burn a hole in a vehicle motor, a boat hull, or communications antenna without blowing up everything around it.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: yuppa

No. Currently it's only a 60kw solid state laser. That won't go through armor, or a person, but will burn a hole in a vehicle motor, a boat hull, or communications antenna without blowing up everything around it.

so what good is it?

a reply to: sarahvital

Apparently you stopped at "no" and didn't bother to read another word of my reply. You missed this part will burn a hole in a vehicle motor, a boat hull, or communications antenna without blowing up everything around it. If you have a communications center in the middle of a neighborhood, you don't have to blow up the entire damn neighborhood to eliminate the communications capability. Or if you have an HVT going through a group of civilians in a vehicle, you don't have to blow up everyone to stop them, or kill them. You can stop them and capture them now. Or if you're after a boat that has potential weapons on board, and your aren't sure, you can stop it without blowing it up, send troops to search it, and if it's the wrong boat, you didn't just blow everyone up by accident.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Zaph,

A bit confused here. If it can a burn a hole through a motor, would it not be able to do the same thing to a person's cranium?

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Lasers are fun things like that. A motor is traveling in a more or less set direction of travel, is easily predictable, and is a fairly large target. They can hold the laser on it for a while. A person is a very small target that moves in random directions, fairly suddenly, and is hard to hold under target. A 60 kw laser doesn't burn through a motor instantly, it takes a few seconds to do it. A person can move pretty quickly out of the way, and in random directions in a few seconds.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks. So more a 'staying locked on target' issue (as well as target size), it sounds like.

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Probably instantaneously blind you if it hit you in the eyes.

If the person were to be stationary it would burn them and do damage same as a motor.

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

This is Athena, a 30kw laser being tested at White Sands, against 5 Outlaw UAVs. You can see how long the laser has to stay on target to shoot down each UAV.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Probably instantaneously blind you if it hit you in the eyes.

If the person were to be stationary it would burn them and do damage same as a motor.

It have to be around 200 mw to toast a human fast enough to be called lethal. And zap is right. this i sfor clandestine missions,such as supporting a seal team or long range sabotage of radios,missile warheads on the truck,plane or storage. flattening tires,causing ammo stores to detonate. Or setting off grenades on a soldiers uniform. Or disabling heavy machine guns.

a reply to: yuppa

Sounds like an anti-materiel rifle but without the report.

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: yuppa

Sounds like an anti-materiel rifle but without the report.

Cheers

well more accurate,and leaves no traces to point back at the US.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Neat video. Interesting how the 'flight' of the drones varied after losing part of their tail. #4 was all over and #5 dropped like a rock.

Cheers

a reply to: yuppa

Clearly.

Im not questioning there purpose.

Of course it not designed to take out people who have a tendency to move out the way when the feel anything burning them.

I still would not go looking down the aperture of the thing when engaged or wish to get hit in the eye, meaning as i don't see it ending well for the anyone's cornea, lens, or retina.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: yuppa

Clearly.

Im not questioning there purpose.

Of course it not designed to take out people who have a tendency to move out the way when the feel anything burning them.

I still would not go looking down the aperture of the thing when engaged or wish to get hit in the eye, meaning as i don't see it ending well for the anyone's cornea, lens, or retina.

Oh yeah,only a dummy would look into the aperature,but since it is invisible to a human eye you could do so accidentally.