It looks like laser weapons are going to get a major power-up. The US government has awarded contracts worth US$86 million to develop new Joint Laser Weapon Systems (JLWS) capable of outputting up to 500 kW to take out next-generation cruise missiles.
With their speed-of-light response times, virtually bottomless magazines, and famous "dollar-a-shot" engagement cost, laser weapons are increasingly moving from the realm of science fiction to become major players on the battlefield. This is especially true when it comes to countering the threat of drones that can, theoretically, be deployed in massive swarms to overwhelm conventional air defenses.
Lasers possess the ability to flick from one target to the next with incredible speed, which is a massive tactical advantage. However, engineers have historically run into two main obstacles. The first is raw power: the lower the wattage of a laser, the smaller the target it can handle, and the longer the beam must remain locked on the target to destroy it. High-powered lasers are technologically possible, but they run directly into the second obstacle: developing the rugged engineering required to turn a high-powered laboratory beam into a practical, deployable weapon.
To overcome these hurdles, the Department of Defense has awarded agreements with an initial combined value of US$86 million – and a total potential program ceiling of up to $847 million – to Lockheed Martin Aculight and nLIGHT Defense. Spearheaded by the Scaled Directed Energy (SCADE) Critical Technology Area under the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, the initiative aims to bypass traditional, slow procurement pathways through rapid prototyping, getting practical weapons into the field as fast as possible.
If a practical laser in the 500-kW range can be successfully fielded, it will allow the military to neutralize not just individual small drones, but high-velocity anti-ship weapons, next-generation cruise missiles, and dense saturation swarms. A laser of this magnitude melts and destabilizes the structural integrity of a target almost instantaneously, making it highly effective against even fast-moving threats.
The downside is that a 500-kW laser system would require a standard 40-foot shipping container just to house the weapon, its advanced cooling system, and its massive power storage banks. It also requires highly specialized optics to combine multiple laser beams of different wavelengths without damaging the internal components. Furthermore, the system must overcome "thermal blooming", a phenomenon where the laser beam heats the surrounding air, causing the beam to scatter and lose focus over long distances. All of this will require design work focussed heavily on reducing the overall size, weight, and power requirements to make the system highly mobile.
To achieve this, the competing companies are developing the new laser weapon in distinct, accelerated phases. The program will first deploy a 150-kW prototype to meet urgent operational demands, which will then be rapidly scaled to intermediate outputs between 300 and 500 kW, culminating in the final, fully integrated 500-kW system.
"We must actively defend the homeland against emerging threats," said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. "We are partnering with industry to rapidly deliver deep magazine directed energy capabilities to the Joint Force that can be seamlessly deployed across multiple domains."
Source: US Department of Defense
