Until recently, the role of the laser was largely limited to providing range and illumination data, marking and marking targets for semi-active homing, or course correction of beam-guided missiles. In addition, lasers are successfully used as blinding devices, in a number of applications with remote fuses, as well as in systems for controlled countermeasures of infrared weapons against infrared-guided missiles.
Protection from lasers can be provided by sensors that can detect, identify and determine the location of the source, means that obstruct observation, thereby preventing the collection of information, and, finally, filters that prevent damage to optical systems, including the human eye. Currently, high-power laser systems or high-energy lasers (English, HEL - High Energy Laser), capable of destroying targets such as small drones and projectiles, and damaging larger systems, are on the verge of massive operational deployment, and developers and planning structures it is already worth thinking carefully about how to counteract them.
Undoubtedly, the United States implements most of the laser programs, but Russia, China, Germany, Israel and the UK are also working on similar systems, and according to the Congressional Intelligence Service, the United States is unlikely to have a clear advantage here.
Marine systems
In the early stages, most of the operational use of lasers on board warships will likely be reduced to the fight against drones, unmanned boats and fast combat boats, which will require relatively low power systems. Shooting down anti-ship missiles and even aircraft will require more powerful weapons of the 150 kW class.
The US Navy, the most enthusiastic proponent of this technology, is funding several laser weapons systems under one large SNLWS (Surface Navy Laser Weapon System) program. In March 2018, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract for the first system, or first phase. Under this $ 150 million contract, it will design, manufacture and supply two High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler with Surveillance (HELIOS) lasers, one for installation on an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and one for testing. on the shore. The contract also includes an option for an additional 14 HELIOS systems. Upon successful completion of the trials, these options will increase the contract value to approximately $ 943 million.
“The HELIOS program is the first of its kind to integrate laser weapons, long-range reconnaissance and surveillance, and anti-drone capabilities to dramatically increase situational awareness and expand the layered defense options available to the US Navy,” said a spokesman for the Office of Weapons Systems. and sensors.
The HELIOS program includes a 60 kW optical fiber laser to combat UAVs and small boats, a long-range reconnaissance and surveillance sensor system integrated with the ship's Aegis combat control system, and a low-power blinding laser to disrupt the surveillance systems of enemy drones. The main laser reportedly has a growth potential of up to 150 kW.
As part of the first phase, Lockheed Martin is to deliver two HELIOS systems for testing by 2020, one for installation on an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and one for land testing at White Sands.
Dazzling ODIN
The second system is a low-power laser installation ODIN (Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy - optical blinding device for the Navy), designed to blind and disable UAV sensors. According to the US Navy, the main components of the ODIN system include a beam aiming device, which in turn includes a telescopic subsystem and low-response mirrors, two laser emitters and a set of sensors for coarse and precise targeting and, as in HELIOS, for reconnaissance and observation.
The third system, known as SSL-TM (Solid-State Laser-Technology Maturation), is a more powerful development of the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) program, according to which a 30-kW laser was installed for evaluation at landing ship San Antiono. In 2015, Northrop Grumman was selected as part of the SSL-TM program to develop a 150 kW weapon that will be installed on a San Antonio class vessel during 2019.
Current plans include the development of technology to support the second phase of SNLWS and the further development of the HELIOS subprogram. The third phase of the SNLWS project is also planned, with the power of the laser weapons being further increased.
A fourth system, designated RHEL (Ruggedised High Energy Laser), is also in preparation. The initial power is also 150 kW, but it will implement a different architecture that can handle more power in the future. The US Navy plans to spend about $ 300 million in 2019 on these weapons systems.
Experimental Vehicle Systems
The prototype of Lockheed Martin Athena's portable ground laser has proven its ability to shoot down small drones. The company published a video in which the laser shoots down five drones in a row, each time aiming at the vertical tail of the vehicles.
When capturing a UAV or a small boat, the operator visually makes sure that the object is enemy and, using an accurate infrared sensor, selects the aiming point. According to the company, for fast-moving targets, for example, missiles and mines, the Athena system works independently without an operator in the control loop. Although Athena is still a prototype, the company claims that the hardened version will be suitable for combat use.
The system uses a 30 kW ALADIN (Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative) fiber laser developed by Lockheed Martin. In the ALADIN system, several laser modules work together, this configuration makes it relatively easy to scale the weapon's power to higher values.
Another system, this time being developed for the American army, performed well in the Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiments (MFIX) exercise held in early 2018. This weapon system received the designation MEHEL (Mobile Experimental High Energy Laser). It is a 5 kW Boeing laser system installed on a Stryker 8x8 armored vehicle. The MEHEL system has proven its ability to shoot down small helicopter and aircraft-type drones above and below the horizon during the MFIX exercise, as well as successfully engage ground targets.
The US Army's MEHEL laser weapon system is designed to be mounted on a combat platform. It uses a commercial fiber laser with the potential to generate 10 kW of power. It is guided using beam control systems, consisting of a telescopic optical system with an aperture of 10 cm and a stabilized high-precision guidance and tracking system. Target acquisition and tracking is provided by infrared cameras with wide and narrow fields of view and a Ku band radar.
In August 2014, Raytheon and the US Marine Corps (ILC) began testing the HEL system for installation on Corps small tactical vehicles to combat low-flying drones and similar targets as part of the Directed Energy On-the-Move Future Naval Capabilities program. Back in 2010, a prototype of the system in demonstration tests managed to shoot down four drones.
According to Raytheon, the main technology in such a compact weapon is a planar wave-guide (PWG). "Using a single PWG, similar in size and shape to a 50cm ruler, high-energy lasers generate enough power to effectively engage small aircraft."
In the short term, it is possible to deploy such a platform in the form of a promising ground-based air defense system GBADS FWS (Ground Based Air Defense, Future Weapon System), which is being developed by the ILC. The radar-guided laser mounted on the JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle) armored vehicle can supplement the electronic warfare system and Stinger missiles.
The German company Rheinmetall has done a lot of work on the development of a number of laser weapons systems and operational concepts for ground-based air defense, slow and low-flying targets, intercepting unguided missiles, artillery shells and mines, neutralizing explosives and scalable non-lethal effects on a number of threats from operational ranges with lasers with a capacity of 10, 20, 20 and 50 kW, installed for demonstration purposes on vehicles, including tracked and wheeled armored vehicles and a truck.
The company has put a lot of effort into integrating lasers into its well-known air defense systems, while emphasizing that, at least in the short and medium term, they are more likely to complement guns and missiles, rather than replace them. One of the key developments at Rheinmetall is beam alignment. This technology allows the energy of several lasers to be concentrated on one target, which makes it possible for the entire system to focus on the most threatening mortar, missile, cruise missile or attack aircraft, and then move on to the next target; these capabilities were demonstrated to the public in 2013. A fully working HEL system can be developed in the next ten years.
Israel is also investing heavily in this technology. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has developed a prototype HEL called the Iron Beam, which uses a 10 kW fiber laser but is expandable to “hundreds of kW” to combat UAVs and short-range missiles and mines. According to the company, the Iron Beam system consists of two laser installations on two different trucks to intercept one missile, and it is noted that multiple beams can be used on larger targets. The message indicates that the system may be ready by 2020.
The smaller Drone Dome system is designed to detect and disable small drones through RF jamming; it can also include a 5 kW laser capable of shooting down similar targets at ranges up to 2 km.
Chinese and Russian lasers
China is actively developing mobile systems on trucks and tactical platforms. Chinese companies, including Poly Technologies with their Silent Hunter and Guorong-I, are eager to display them at trade shows and post test videos to the network. For example, a video was shown in which the Guorong-I system burns a test plate carried by a small quadcopter, possibly from the DJI Phantom line, and then knocks down that drone itself.
It is believed that China is also working on larger ship systems, possibly installed on the new cruiser Tour 055.
The Russian military say they already have laser weapons in service. Yuri Borisov, currently Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, declared back in 2016 that these were not experimental models, but military weapons.
It is assumed that Russia is developing a number of laser systems and other directed energy weapons, laser systems for defense against aircraft. According to reports, it is planned to install a laser of higher power on sixth generation combat aircraft, which, according to experts, will not be put into service until the 2030s.
Air applications
Although ships, by their very nature, became the first mobile platforms for the installation of high-power laser weapons, since they could take a large mass and provide the required amount of electricity, the process of practical penetration of laser systems into the field of tactical aviation has now begun.
In the summer of 2017, the first tests of a fully integrated high-energy laser were carried out, during which a ground target was incinerated from an Apache helicopter by a Raytheon-designed unit. In a series of test hijacks conducted by Raytheon and the US Army in collaboration with the White Sands Special Operations Command, the helicopter reportedly hit targets from a variety of altitudes at different speeds, in different flight modes and at an inclined range of 1.4 km.
In order to provide target information, improve situational awareness and beam control, Raytheon has adapted a version of its optoelectronic station MTS (Multispectral Targeting System).
An important part of the tests was to determine how well the technology withstands external influences, including vibration, jets and dust from the main rotor, in order to take this into account when developing advanced weapons.
Jet lasers
The US Air Force is exploring the possibility of using HEL technology to protect tactical aircraft from air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles as part of the Shield program (Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator), in connection with which in In November 2017, the US Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Lockheed Martin a contract for a container system that is to be tested on a jet fighter by 2021. One of the design goals is to assemble a multi-kilowatt fiber laser in a limited available space. The work is focused on three subsystems. The first received the designation STRAFE (SHiELD Turret Research in Aero Effects) and is a beam steering system; the second subsystem LPRD (Laser Pod Research & Development) is a container that will house the laser, power supply and cooling systems; and the third is the LANCE (Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments) laser installation itself.
British Dragonfire
If all goes according to plan, 2019 will see the first trials of the Dragonfre, a HEL prototype developed for the British government by a consortium led by MBDA, which includes Oinetiq, Leonardo-Finmeccanica and several UK companies including GKN, Arke, BAE Systems. and Marshall AOG. The planned demonstration should include a full cycle of tests at land and sea ranges, from target acquisition to destruction.
The weapon system will be based on a scalable fiber laser architecture with coherent beam technology and a corresponding phase control system. According to the company QinetiQ, this technology allows you to create a source of high-precision laser radiation, which can be directed at a moving target and generate a high energy density on it despite atmospheric turbulence, which can shorten the hitting time and increase the range. Dragonfre's scalable architecture allows the number of laser channels to be increased so that the resulting variants can be customized to deal with a wide variety of circuits and integrated into a variety of marine, land and air platforms.
Light technology protection
Lasers as weapons have positive and negative sides. The beam travels at the speed of light, so there are no significant flight time complications that negatively affect the aiming process. If the tracking subsystem of the weapons complex can be held on the target, then it can direct the laser beam at it and hold it for the required time. Keeping the beam on the target is very important, as in many cases the system can take some time to heat up the target and exert the desired effect. In this case, the target gets a chance to "feel" the attack and use appropriate countermeasures. Problems are also created by the atmosphere itself, since phenomena that impede the passage of the beam, including water vapor, precipitation, dust, as well as the air itself (for example, such a phenomenon as haze), have different absorbing and refractive effects at different wavelengths, negatively affecting the effective the range of the laser and its ability to concentrate energy on the target.
Naturally, the US military is looking for ways to protect its assets from lasers and other directed energy weapons. The Naval Research Directorate is implementing a major program to counter directed energy weapons. It examines possible countermeasures based on technologies that may become available to combat such threats in the period from 2020 to 2025, including materials and various types of veils.
Protective materials, for example, can include reflective and ablative or destructive coatings. Degradable coatings, usually based on polymers and metals, are typically used in space-based solid propellants and reentry vehicles. Curtains or obstructions usually use water or smoke to scatter the laser beam and reduce the amount of energy reaching the target.
Other countermeasures are beginning to appear, which, according to the principle of active jamming, disrupt the operation of the laser system and prevent it from keeping the beam on the target, for example, the use of lasers on board the protected platform. This direction, according to some information, was dealt with by Adsys Controls. However, the company currently describes its Helios system as a "passive directed energy weapon system," but without explicitly mentioning lasers. According to Adsys. Helios, a sensor kit installed on large drones, provides a complete analysis of the incoming beam, including its location and intensity. "With this information, it passively jamming the enemy, protecting the vehicle and its payload."
Information about the means of countering laser weapons is carefully guarded, but one thing is clear: a new technological battle of means of influence and counteraction has begun.
