The first AC-130 equipped with 150 kW laser weapons will be operational within the next 18 months. This is what he stated to Breaking Defense, the commander of theUnited States Air Force Special Operations Command, General Bradley Heithold.
Combat tests - added Heithold - will take place at the White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico. When an AC-130 starts pouring a rain of fire on the enemy, everyone knows it's in the area. We want the power and quietness of laser weapons.
Technically it is much easier to adapt a laser weapon on a terrestrial carrier or on a Navy ship. Just think of the first and only operational laser weapon in the world installed on the USS Ponce, ship from 17.000 tons. In contrast, the AC-130J weighs only '82 tons at full load. The F-15E just 40.
Analyzing the tactical purpose of lasers for the Army, the Marine Corps and the Navy, as theHigh-Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator, Ground-based Air Defense and Laser Weapon System, one senses that they were designed for defensive purposes. The ultimate goal is a laser with the power and capacity (hence the reach) to break down incoming ballistic and cruise missiles, protect a base, land unit or naval task force.
The Air Force laser is more aggressive. The laser option on the AC-130 gunboat would mean having a precise and destructive weapon, much more lethal than conventional systems. Hitting a target with direct energy (in reference to the F-15) in an air-to-air context means to hit it in milliseconds and no longer in minutes. An AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile flies at around 3.000 miles per hour, even if the actual data is classified. A laser, on the other hand, "moves" at the speed of light, ie 186.000 miles per second.
With just one gallon of 'gas', dozens of targets could be hit. Instead of carrying half a dozen supersonic missiles, an airplane could fire hundreds of laser shots before being refueled by a tanker. In this way, his mission would not be limited to the loading of weapons. Because lasers can fire an infinite number of shots at the speed of light, they are ideal for intercepting high-speed threats.
The different approach of the Air Force with respect to the Navy and the Army appears evident. Rather than trying to protect a ship, a base or a fleet, the USAF focuses on the self-protection of the single laser-carrying aircraft. The Air Force would like a multi-purpose laser: defensive / offensive weapons that can fire in low-power mode for self-defense, in non-lethal offensive mode (to burn sensors or engines) and, finally, in lethal mode.
Within the 2024 an offensive 300 kilowatt system will be tested, capable of destroying enemy planes and long-range land targets. Should they actually work, the first "pocket" laser weapons could also equip the F-22 or the F-35 (pictured below), but you certainly can't hope to see them integrated into the cell. This means that both the Raptor and the Lightning II can, between 10 or 15 years, carry laser weapons, but at the expense of the stealth of their cell, not designed for implementing energy systems.
However, it is clear that the state of the art of laser weapons will not be reached before the 2040-2050, in theory ready for the future sixth generation fighter, in the design phase.
(photo: US Air Force)
