{"id":2436,"date":"2020-12-06T18:15:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T12:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/?p=2436"},"modified":"2024-12-03T10:13:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T04:43:16","slug":"laser-guns-on-airborne-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/55nda.com\/blogs\/anil-khosla\/2020\/12\/06\/laser-guns-on-airborne-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"28: LASER GUNS ON AIRBORNE PLATFORMS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aerial warfare started with pilots shooting hand held weapons at each other from their aircraft. The aircraft mounted guns replaced these hand held weapons. The aircraft guns improved over the years in terms of the caliber of weapons, rate of fire, ammunition carrying capacity and most important the lethal range. Improvements also took place with respect to the arc of fire, cone of fire and the aiming systems. The aerial combat and the tactics kept changing depending upon the capability of these weapon systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gradually longer range air to air missiles became the weapon of choice for airborne platforms. These missiles advanced from close combat ones to all aspect beyond visual range weapons. The nature of warfare and the tactics underwent a drastic change with these weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n

The airborne platforms including fighters and combat support heavy aircraft have become vulnerable to modern weapons fired from far ranges. With introduction of hypersonic weapons the reaction time will reduce further increasing their vulnerability.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A need is being felt to have a relatively close in weapon system which can destroy the approaching projectile. Something which can be slewed on to oncoming projectile from any direction, is not limited by amount of ammunition carried, has adequate range & lethality and can be used on all types of airborne platforms. LASER based weapons have been under consideration for quite a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

While LASERs would be useful for defensive role but if adequate power can be generated onboard the platform, it can also be used for offensive purpose as well. Lasers are also the best match for high-volume, low-cost threats such as drones which are becoming increasingly prevalent on the battlefield. In other words, lasers could change many aspects of air warfare. Airborne lasers aren\u2019t ready yet, but once they are aerial warfare will never be the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

LASER as an Alternative<\/span><\/p>\n

Lasers are invisible to the naked eye and can destroy targets at the speed of light with unmatched precision. Laser weapons are clearly the way forward in aerial warfare. Their use would depend on the amount of power available. For example, lower power lasers could be used to disable or shoot down air-to-air missiles threatening the aircraft. Alternately, they could blind enemy pilots within visual range. Higher power weapons could damage and even destroy aircraft or larger ballistic missiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Advantages:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 LASER is una\ufb00ected by traditional aircraft gun issues, including weapon accuracy and dispersion due to wind and gravity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 A laser powered by an onboard generator could provide enough energy for an unlimited number of shots. These directed-energy platforms can strike repeatedly giving them a near-endless supply of ammunition. A laser could simply target anything the pilot sees without the need to lock on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 A laser is immune to existing countermeasures and cannot be fooled into following decoys. A laser travels at the speed of light, making it impossible to evade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Challenges:<\/span><\/p>\n