US laser weapons: advantages, disadvantages and prospects

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

July 18, 2017, the world's media hit the public headlines: "The United States tested laser weapons in the Persian Gulf." The American television channel CNN released a video showing the test of laser weapons produced by the US Navy. Two targets were successfully hit by laser cannon shots, showing the world what US laser weapons are capable of. The XN-1 LaWS gun on the USS Ponce is now the only laser gun in service with the US Navy, but the Pentagon is already focused on developing and building new guns and arming warships and aircraft with them. What kind of laser weapon is in service with the US Army? What are its technical data? What are the plans of the American military-industrial complex in this important issue? you will learn about it from this article.

Wonder Weapon

Great minds of mankind at the beginning of the 20th century predicted the appearance of ray weapons. The idea of a weapon capable of penetrating any armor and guaranteed to hit the target was reflected in the works of science fiction. These are the Martian tripods of Oscar Wilde in the "War of the Worlds", and "the heat beam of highpower" by A. N. Tolstoy in "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin", and their numerous followers in literature and cinema. The most famous work, where the idea of laser weapons is realized, can rightfully be called Star Wars by George Lucas.

In the 1950s of the last century, laser weapons came to the attention of the military. At the same time, working versions of lasers were being developed in the USA and the USSR. The United States in the development of laser weapons focused primarily on missile defense.

Ronald Reagan's Star Wars

The US's first step in the field of laser weaponry was the Strategic Defense Initiative program, better known as the Star Wars project. It was supposed to put into orbit satellites equipped with lasers, designed to destroy Soviet ballistic missiles at the highest point of their trajectory. A large-scale program was launched to develop and manufacture means for the early detection of take-off missiles, and according to some unconfirmed reports, the first satellites with laser weapons on board were launched into space in the utmost secrecy.

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) project, in fact, became the forerunner of the American missile defense system, around which disputes and verbal battles do not cease now. But SDI was not destined to fully become a reality. The project lost its relevance and was closed in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moreover, the already existing developments were used in other similar projects, including the aforementioned missile defense, and some individualdevelopments have been adapted to civilian needs such as the GPS satellite system.

Boeing YAL-1. The impossible dream of a laser bomber

The first attempt to revive the concept of the use of beam weapons in combat conditions was the project of an aircraft that would be capable of shooting down nuclear missiles even on takeoff. In 2002, an experimental Boeing YAL-1 aircraft with a chemical laser was built, which successfully passed several tests, but the program was closed in 2011 due to budget cuts. The problem of the project, which negated all its advantages, was that the YAL-1 could only shoot at 200 kilometers, which in the conditions of full-scale hostilities would lead to the fact that the aircraft would simply be shot down by enemy air defense forces.

Rebirth of US laser weapons

The new US defense doctrine, which included the creation of a national missile defense system, has again awakened military interest in beam weapons.

In 2004, the US Army tested laser weapons in combat. The ZEUS combat laser, mounted on the HMMWV SUV, in Afghanistan, successfully coped with the destruction of unexploded ordnance and mines. Also, according to unconfirmed reports, the US tested laser weapons in the Persian Gulf in 2003, during Operation Shock and Awe (military invasion of Iraq).

In 2008, the American company Northrop Grumman Corporation, together withThe Israeli Defense Ministry developed the Skyguard laser missile defense system. Northrop Grumman is also developing beam weapons for the US Navy. In 2011, active tests were carried out, but nothing is known about active products. It is assumed that the new laser will be 5 times more powerful than what the United States tested in the Persian Gulf in July 2017.

Later, Boeing began developing a program to develop the HEL MD laser, which successfully passed combat tests in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, Boeing introduced a laser with a power of up to 2 kW, which successfully shot down a drone during an exercise.

Beam weapons are also being developed by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. According to the US Department of Defense, tests of laser weapons will be held annually.

XN-1 LaWS System

The XN-1 LaWS laser weapon was developed by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in 2014 and was immediately installed aboard the USS Ponce, an obsolete US Navy landing craft selected to test the new weapon system. The power of the gun is 30 kW, the approximate cost is 30 million US dollars, the speed of the “projectile” is more than 1 billion km / h, with the cost of one shot being 1 dollar. The unit is controlled by 3 people.

Benefits

The advantages of US laser weapons directly come from the specifics of their use. They are listed below:

It doesn't need ammo as it runs on electricity.
The laser is muchmore precisely, firearms, since external factors practically do not affect the projectile.
Another important advantage comes from accuracy - collateral damage is absolutely excluded. The beam hits the target without causing damage to surrounding objects, which allows it to be used in densely populated areas where the use of conventional artillery and bombing is fraught with high civilian casu alties and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The laser is silent and untraceable, allowing it to be used in special operations where ste alth and quietness are key success factors.

Flaws

Of the obvious advantages of laser weapons, their disadvantages also arise, namely:

Power consumption is too high. Large systems will require large generators, which will significantly limit the mobility of the artillery systems on which they will be installed.
High accuracy only when firing direct fire, which drastically reduces the effectiveness of the use on land.
The laser beam can be reflected using inexpensive materials, the production of which has been established in many countries. Thus, a representative of the PRC Minister of War stated in 2014 that Chinese tanks are completely protected from American lasers thanks to a special protective layer.

Prospects for US laser weapons

So, what about beam weapons in the future? Will we see scenes familiar to every fan of science fiction, wheregiant lasers - commonplace? Based on recent trends, the power of the new US laser weapons will grow, and after it the destructive potential will increase.

The developers of beam weapons are already facing the eternal problem of "shield - sword" - it will be necessary to overcome the resistance of new protective coatings, which will be improved as the power of laser weapons grows. With each new weapon system, the range of US laser weapons grows, which opens up a new way to use them - the fight against space debris. There is also a tendency to reduce the size of vehicles without losing power, which in the future will lead to the fact that we will get a fairly small weapon that can be installed on fighter aircraft and even one day become the personal weapon of soldiers.

Because each new test of US laser weapons is of such keen interest to all the world's military experts. But do not think that the old weapons systems will remain in the past. Keep in mind that laser weapons are only effective in line-of-sight conditions, so conventional artillery and precision-guided missiles will still dominate theaters of war.