A revolutionary laser weapon designed to shoot down incoming
cruise missiles, artillery projectiles or surface-to-air missiles
(SAMs), is being tested by Boeing Rocketdyne. The airborne tactical
laser (ATL) is a scaled-down derivative of the airborne laser (ABL)
system currently under development by the US Air Force (USAF). The
ATL could be mounted aboard various platforms, including V-22
Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and CH-47 Chinook helicopters, said
company officials.
Like the ABL, which requires a Boeing 747-400F aircraft to carry a
laser strong enough to shoot down theatre ballistic missiles in
boost phase, the ATL uses a chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL).
However, instead of pumping exhaust gas from the COIL out of the
aircraft as the ABL is designed to do, the ATL collects the exhaust
with a sealed exhaust system. "The sealed exhaust system keeps the
size and the weight down," said Beck
The ATL can fit into Ospreys and Chinooks without altering them,
according to Don Slater, Boeing Rocketdyne systems engineer for the
ATL project.
With modifications, it could also be carried aboard a wide range of
other platforms, such as US Navy (USN) P-3 maritime patrol aircraft
and USAF C-130 transports. The ATL could also be installed aboard
US Army wheeled or tracked vehicles, Slater said.
"It would be more effective aboard an airborne platform," he said,
noting that aircraft have more mobility and are harder to hide
from.
The primary mission of the ATL would be to defend against cruise
missiles, but it could also intercept incoming artillery shells of
up to 300mm, Slater said. In addition, ATLs could accompany strike
aircraft and knock out SAM sites, at a maximum range of about 25km,
he said.
source: Jane's Defense Weekly Vol. 031, Issue: 010
The Advanced Tactical Laser can place a 10-centimeter-wide beam
with the heating power of a blowtorch on distant targets
for up to 100 shots. The Advanced Tactical Laser can
produce a four-inch-diameter beam of energy that can slice
through metal from a distance of 9 miles.
Operated from a ground, sea or airborne platform, ATL offers the
ability to place a precisely calibrated energy pulse on a target
from either close in or from a standoff distance of several
miles.
The ATL includes a laser, optics and control systems
enabling fire control systems on fixed and rotary-wing
aircraft to precisely direct laser fire on targets from 15
kilometers away. The outermost cruise missile
engagements occur at 20 km, where laser dwell times of five seconds
are required for each kill. At shorter ranges, the dwell
times are reduced. One target is destroyed for each dwell period,
and a few seconds are allocated for re-targeting between
shots.
The ATL is not subject to direct attack by small arms or
shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles. In fact, it can
be far enough away that its action is almost covert. The
laser beam makes no sound and is not visible. The
effect of the beam may not be easily associated with a presence of
an aircraft several miles away!
An ATL will generally operate below most of the clouds. For missile
defense, the ATL works best at altitudes around 10,000 feet. But it
can operate down to about 2,500 feet; below that, the operational
range becomes too short to be useful. Baseline ATL design
achieves > 20 km kill range 50 percent of the time. In
the Arabian Gulf location, for 10 percent of the time the range
will exceed 24 km, and at 10 percent of the time it will be less
than 16 km. In the Korean coastal climate, the variation is
greater. The "best" 10 percent of the time the range exceeds 30 km,
but the worst 10 percent limits the range to less than 8 km.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2173968.php
Nowadays alot of lasers coming from US...When LASER RIFLE coming?
Then we can all star wars 