Progress does not stand still, and what we previously could only see in science fiction novels or feature films is becoming a reality. In many respects, this concerns new types of weapons, in particular, weapons based on new physical principles. A large list of systems and types of modern weapons, including laser weapons, falls under this fairly broad definition today. Today many countries of the world are developing laser weapons, while the United States and Russia have achieved quite significant successes in this field.
The first prototypes of laser weapons did not appear today and not even yesterday, they began to be developed back in the 60s and 70s of the XX century, but only today such weapons become truly real, they go on experimental combat duty and undergo comprehensive tests. including in the navy. According to US Vice Admiral Thomas Moore, the use of laser weapons on American warships will become widespread in the next 10 or 15 years. According to the admiral who oversees the programs for the construction of underwater and surface systems in the Navy, initially laser installations on ships will be used exclusively for defense, but over time, a transition to offensive actions using laser installations of various power is not excluded.
In the United States, a large number of companies are working on the creation of laser weapons today: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corporation, as well as DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense. All of them have achieved some success in this field. At the IDEX-2019 international arms exhibition held in Abu Dhabi in February, the Americans demonstrated their latest developments in the field of creating laser weapons. In particular, the Boeing Corporation demonstrated its experimental laser to the participants of the largest arms exhibition in the Middle East, which can effectively fight against small UAVs of the enemy.
The stand of the largest aerospace corporation Boeing demonstrated not only a model of an experimental laser installation, but also a film that clearly showed its capabilities. Prepared videos showed how a laser beam hits and disables a small unmanned aerial vehicle. According to the TASS agency, currently the level of technology achieved by the American military in the field of creating military laser weapons is at a level that can effectively counter certain types of air and surface targets at a distance of about 1.6 kilometers (American mile, also called standard land miles) from the installation. The achieved level of technology development allows the Americans to begin deploying the first combat laser systems on ships of the fleet within the next few years.
It is believed that in a slightly more distant future more powerful laser installations will be ready for use, which will provide surface ships with the ability to combat air and surface targets at a distance of about 16 kilometers. If such results are achieved, such weapons could become part of the last line of missile defense of the battleship, hitting some types of ballistic missiles, including the modern Chinese ballistic anti-ship missile ASBM, which American admirals consider a serious threat to their surface fleet, and the Chinese themselves call a thunderstorm. aircraft carriers. At the same time, experts say that despite the fact that the US Navy is actively working on the creation of laser weapons and its various prototypes, and also have a generalized vision of its development and use, a specific program for launching lasers into mass production or a roadmap, which would mark a specific time frame for the installation of laser installations on board of certain types of warships is currently simply not there.
For the first time, American admirals started talking about plans to equip warships of the fleet with modern laser weapons back in the early 2010s, at the same time the first tests of the developed laser systems took place on board warships from the US Navy. For example, not so long ago, in the summer of 2017, a great resonance in the media was caused by the tests of the LaWS (Laser Weapons System) laser system installed on board the USS Ponce amphibious assault ship, on the nose of which, in August 2014, a prototype of a laser combat unit was installed (it is considered, which is 30 kilowatts). Then, as part of tests in the Persian Gulf, the American military was able to hit targets on board small moving boats, and also shot down a UAV. These tests were included in the plot of the CNN television channel, which attracted special attention to them from the world community.
The moment a small drone is hit by a laser beam
But no matter how impressive such stories and presentations look at exhibitions, one should not forget that laser weapons, like any other weapon systems, not only adopted for service, but also developed, have both their obvious advantages and no less obvious cons.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Combat Lasers
One of the first advantages, which is always mentioned when referring to a laser weapon, is the low cost of a shot. According to the estimates of the Americans, the cost of ship fuel, which is spent to produce the energy required for a shot from a laser installation, can be from 1 to 10 dollars, while the price of a modern short-range missile defense system is estimated at 0.9-1.4 million dollars, and if you take a long-range missile defense system, then the price immediately goes for several million dollars. Based on this, a simple and effective concept for the use of combat lasers in the fleet is being developed. Their main work can be the destruction of the UAV of a potential enemy, that is, the fight against less important targets, in turn, anti-aircraft guided missiles will be used to ensure the destruction of more important and most dangerous targets. Any warship is a very expensive piece of military equipment, while the enemy tries to use the least costly means to defeat it, which include attack drones, small boats and boats, and anti-ship missiles. The introduction of combat lasers into the ship's armament will make it possible to change the ratio of defense expenditures.
Another plus of laser weapons is the unlimited ammunition. As long as energy is being generated, the laser can fire. This is especially important when you consider that any warship has a limited ammunition load not only for missiles, but also for artillery weapons. For example, after the use of anti-aircraft guided missiles, it is advisable to withdraw the ship from the battle and replenish the ammunition load. In turn, the use of a laser installation to combat small targets, as well as false targets, will help preserve the missile ammunition load. In the future, a ship equipped with operational combat lasers and missile weapons will not be as large and less expensive than a warship with a large ammunition load of missiles placed in vertical launchers.
LaWS (Laser Weapons System) laser system installed on board the USS Ponce landing craft
The obvious advantages of laser weapons also include the possibility of hitting super-maneuverable targets, which are superior in their aerodynamic characteristics to the anti-missiles available on board the ship. In this case, an almost instantaneous defeat of the target attacked by the laser beam is achieved, the focused laser beam incapacitates the target in a few seconds, after which it can be focused on another attacking object. When fighting near a coastal zone, for example in a port, the use of laser weapons also provides minimal collateral damage. Do not forget that the laser beam has no mass, which means that when firing, there is no need to adopt ballistic corrections that would take into account the strength and direction of the wind, and the laser shot has no recoil and is not accompanied by a flash, strong sound and smoke emission, which traditionally act as unmasking factors. In addition to this, laser systems can be used not only for destruction, but also for tracking and detecting targets, and they can also affect them in a non-lethal manner, for example, by disabling optoelectronic equipment and sensors.
In turn, the obvious disadvantages of all laser systems include the fact that they can only affect targets that are on the line of sight. The possibility of hitting over-the-horizon targets is completely absent. In the sea-based variant, the limitation on the defeat of small-sized targets can be strong waves, which will hide the target for a while. An important disadvantage is that atmospheric phenomena such as fog, smoke, rain or snow have an extremely negative effect on the laser beam, which interfere with the passage of the laser beam and its focus on the target, and this is a serious limitation for military weapons.
It is also worth remembering that repelling a massive attack on a ship will most likely require the use of more than one laser installation, since the process of retargeting to new objects, as well as their defeat, still takes some time. In this regard, the deployment of several combat lasers will be required according to the same principle according to which modern anti-aircraft artillery systems are installed on board the ship, which are responsible for the defense of the ship at the last line. Also, do not discount the fact that low-power kilowatt lasers will be inferior in efficiency to their megawatt counterparts. This will be especially noticeable when trying to counteract targets with an ablation coating (thermal protection technology used in spacecraft). In turn, the desire to increase the power of the laser installation will entail an increase in mass, price and requirements for the ship's power plant.
Laser tests on board an American ship
Russian response
Russia has something to oppose to American developments. In our country, work on the creation of laser weapons has also come a long way, and the Soviet school in this area was considered advanced. The existing backlog has allowed Russian designers to achieve significant results in the development of laser installations that can be used for military purposes. So on February 20, 2019, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the troops were finishing the process of deploying the land-based Peresvet Russian military laser complex. It is expected that the Russian combat laser will go off alert as early as December this year.
Military expert Yuri Knutov, who commented on Russia Today, called the Russian Peresvet the most powerful and effective combat laser on the planet. This estimate is valid at this point in time. According to Knutov, there is still very little information in the public domain about this development of the domestic military-industrial complex. At the same time, the expert believes that the main purpose of Peresvet is to solve the problems of anti-missile and air defense, including the construction of a highly echeloned defense of ground targets, which includes other air defense systems. Yuri Knutov believes that the Russian military laser is capable of striking various types of aircraft and missiles, including UAVs. According to him, the capacity of the complex can be about 1 megawatt. The expert believes that the very fact of the deployment of a new complex among the troops indicates that Russian military laser systems are superior in their characteristics to overseas samples of such weapons.
In turn, it can be noted how different the current approaches of the two countries to the introduction of such weapons (based on the information that is freely available). The Russian concept with the use of a super-powerful laser installation, which is distinguished by its large dimensions and requires the deployment of no less bulky power installations for operation, is apparently sharpened for the defense of stationary objects of high strategic importance, including the basing areas of intercontinental ballistic missiles. It is obvious that "Peresvet", in the form in which it is shown by the Russian Ministry of Defense today, is a weapon in case of a full-scale war.
Deployment of the "Peresvet" laser combat complex (frame from the official video of the RF Ministry of Defense)
At the same time, the laser systems tested by the Americans, primarily sea-based, are not as powerful and, accordingly, less overall. Their purpose is more utilitarian. The main purpose is the fight against small surface and air targets, spending on which a limited supply of missiles is too expensive. For one of the most howling armies in the world, this is quite relevant. The Americans have already faced suicide attacks by their warships, sailing up to them in small boats, and modern local conflicts around the world clearly demonstrate the ever-growing role of drones. In such conditions, the laser installation on board the ship saves money for the American taxpayers, which allows them to spend about 1-10 dollars on the destruction of the drone, and not hundreds of thousands of dollars, which cost the release of one anti-aircraft guided missile.
