Indian Laser and Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) Thread

[luckyy]

By Vivek Raghuvanshi
Published: 25 Aug 2010 17:01

NEW DELHI - Indian scientists are developing laser-based anti-ballistic missile systems called Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs).

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), DEW weapons can kill incoming ballistic missiles by bombarding them with subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves. The weapons could intercept missiles soon after they were launched toward India.

A DRDO scientist said laser-based weapons have been tested. One of these weapons is the air defense dazzler, which can engage enemy aircraft and helicopters at a range of 10 kilometers. This weapon will be ready for induction in two years.

India's laser weapons can be deployed in the Navy's submarines and destroyers, and Air Force fighters and transport planes.

The DEW laser weapon is capable of producing 25-kilowatt pulses that can destroy a ballistic missile within seven kilometers, the scientist said.

India Developing Laser-Based Anti-Missile Systems - Defense News

 

[luckyy]

India Seeks DIRCM Partners To Protect Aircraft From Missiles - Defense News

NEW DELHI - India is looking for overseas partners to jointly develop a laser-based directed infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system to protect aircraft against ground-launched infrared guided missiles.

The DIRCM will be jointly produced with India's state-owned Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), based in Bangalore.

Global tenders for the multimillion-dollar contract have been sent to defense companies in Europe, Israel, Russia and the United States, said a senior official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which controls the DARE laboratory.

The DIRCM self-protection suite is a laser-based directed infrared countermeasure system for protecting aircraft and helicopters against shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles known as MANPADS.

The Indian Air Force re-evaluated the threat from such missiles after the Kargil battle in 1999 when two of its aircraft, a MiG-21 and a MiG-27, and an attack helicopter were hit by MANPADS, Air Force sources said.

The service wants systems with jamming capabilities as part of the defense against such missiles Air Force sources said all the aircraft will be equipped with advanced DIRCM systems while the helicopters are equipped with protection against infrared-seeking air-to-air missiles.

A DARE official said a missile warning system would cue DIRCM, which then would turn toward the approaching threat and direct its laser beam toward the missile's seeker to disrupt its guidance system and break its lock on the aircraft.

India wants the DIRCM to be able to counter current-generation MANPADS, a senior Defence Ministry official said. The system should be able to defeat a missile fired from below the aircraft and should be effective at altitudes of at least 15,000 feet.

Though the current tender is mainly for Air Force aircraft, helicopter protection is also vital, the Defence Ministry official said.

 

[nrj]

^^ Old news. So far no firm showed response to DRDO's DIRCM project. Its been more than 2 years to the same now. DRDO should move ahead alone on this project. It should rather seek partners within the country like PSUs & Pvt companies for R&D then follow it into Defense product. Without industry participation & proactive research desi DIRCM is hollow distant dream.

 

[luckyy]

NEW DELHI, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Bent on becoming a regional superpower, India is pursuing ways to develop laser-guided anti-ballistic missiles.

Dubbed direct energy weapons and developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization, the new weapons are intended to kill incoming, hostile ballistic missiles "by bombarding them with subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves," the Defense News Web site reported.

In a planning document written earlier this month, India's Defense Ministry said it would place what it called its highest priorities on direct energy weapons for the next 15 years. Trials of the weapons are expected within the coming years should scientists stay on schedule with the development program.

Indian scientists say they have already begun testing. The defense dazzler was reported to be one of the first weapons put to test, engaging enemy aircraft and helicopters within a range of 6 miles.

This system alone, Defense News reported, will be inducted into the country's defense apparatus by 2012.

"Lasers are weapons of the future. We can, for instance, use laser beams to shoot down an enemy missile in its boost or terminal phase," The Times of India recently quoted Anil Kumar Maini, who heads the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization's Laser Science and Technology Center.

The direct energy weapons are capable of producing 25-kilowatt pulses that can destroy intruding missiles. They are said to be considered by the Indian navy for deployment on submarines and destroyers. They may also be mounted on combat aircraft and transport planes.

India's designs come amid efforts to establish a defense shield capable of knocking down hostile ballistic missiles.

Should India succeed, it will join Israel, Russia and the United States in both developing and owning such defense technology.

Although manufactured domestically, the system's tracking and fire control radars have been developed with Israel and France.

Bent on bolstering its military might, India announced plans recently to spend up to $30 billion on its military by 2012.

The Times of India reported that laser-based weapons would comprise one component of a wider India missile defense network now under development. The newspaper noted, however, that the country's Defense Research and Development Organization is known to make claims regarding technology that it cannot ultimately produce.

India prepares laser-guided missiles - UPI.com

 

[luckyy]

US dubious about the prospects of India possessing advanced laser weapons

India's Claims of Laser Weapons: 'Nonsense' or Threat?

(Aug. 31) -- An elaborate bluff? A case of overly optimistic technology? Or perhaps just old-fashioned boasting? Whatever the explanation, India's claims that it is on the brink of deploying advanced laser weapons is attracting attention from Pakistan.

Defense News, a military trade publication, reported in a recent article that India was developing a variety of new energy-beam weapons, including one that "can kill incoming ballistic missiles by bombarding them with subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves."

In this infrared image released by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser, right, destroys a short-range ballistic missile

Other lasers under development include a laser "dazzler" weapon that could be directed at aircraft from up to 10 kilometers away or aimed at people for use as a nonlethal device. The weapons are being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, a government agency that develops technology and weapons for the Indian military.

But there's a large difference between missile-destroying laser beams, which typically require large amounts of energy, and lower-powered laser dazzlers, which can be used to disorient or temporarily blind people.

Regardless, India's archrival, Pakistan, is following the news closely. "The Indian government has decided to equip its police and paramilitary forces in the Occupied Kashmir valley with slew of 'Directed Energy Weapons,' also called 'laser dazzlers,' to tackle Kashmiri protesters," Pakistan's The Nation newspaper reported.

U.S. scientists who have worked on military weapons expressed skepticism about India's claims. That's not surprising, since the Pentagon, for example, has invested some 30 years and billions of dollars in creating directed-energy weapons designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, and so far nothing has been deployed.

The U.S. Air Force has worked for years on the airborne laser, a megawatt-powered chemical laser housed on a Boeing jumbo jet that successfully shot down a missile target earlier this year in a test. But the Pentagon has shelved plans to deploy the weapon, citing concerns about its feasibility.

Laser weapons certainly have military applications, Mark Lewis, a former Air Force chief scientist, told AOL News, but he doubted that India has made a huge breakthrough in the field. "I have never seen anything to suggest they are very far along," he said.

Peter Zimmerman, the former chief scientist of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, was equally dubious about the prospects of India possessing advanced laser weapons. "Laser dazzlers are straightforward," he told AOL News, noting that commercially available green lasers can be aimed at landing aircraft to distract the pilots.

But missile-destroying laser weapons are less likely, he said. "Laser weapons from India?" Zimmerman asked. "Probable nonsense."

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

i suppose india doesn't need US certificate for its directed energy programme.the were skeptical about isro's capabilities in 1990 and now ISRO launches US satellites.also they were very skeptical about our bmd programme and we demostrated 4 consequetive sucessful missile interception.

 

[sandeepdg]

Just because the Americans couldn't develop something satisfactory in laser weapons, they believe that nobody else can, especially a third world nation !! We developed a lot of cutting edge technology in various sciences on our own, we sure as hell can develop laser weapons !! We will see who is what in the near future !

 

[Agantrope]

Just because the Americans couldn't develop something satisfactory in laser weapons, they believe that nobody else can, especially a third world nation !! We developed a lot of cutting edge technology in various sciences on our own, we sure as hell can develop laser weapons !! We will see who is what in the near future !

Hegemony at its best, Till today Unkil haven't produced a cruise missile with supersonic speed , i mean to compete the Soviet

 

[sandeepdg]

US dubious about the prospects of India possessing advanced laser weapons

Peter Zimmerman, the former chief scientist of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, was equally dubious about the prospects of India possessing advanced laser weapons. "Laser dazzlers are straightforward," he told AOL News, noting that commercially available green lasers can be aimed at landing aircraft to distract the pilots.

But missile-destroying laser weapons are less likely, he said. "Laser weapons from India?" Zimmerman asked. "Probable nonsense."

Mr. Zimmerman seems to be confused about the differences between "green lasers" used to distract pilots of landing aircrafts and a directed energy beam which can disorient an combat aircraft travelling at supersonic speed at a distance of 10 kms from the target !!! What a stupid comparison, especially from someone with so many credentials ! :special10:

 

[Sri]

DRDO Develops New Laser-Based Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems | India Defence

Indian scientists at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are designing new laser-based anti-missile systems called the Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs).

The Directed Energy Weapons bombard incoming ballistic missiles with electromagnetic waves or subatomic particles to destroy them. The laser weapons are suitable for Air Force transport planes and fighters, and Navy's destroyers and submarines.

According to a DRDO scientist, the laser-based anti-ballistic missile systems have gone through standard testing procedures. An air defense dazzler, one of the weapons, can engage enemy helicopters at a 10 km range. The laser weapon will be set for induction in the next two years.

The scientist added that the DEW can generate 25 kW pulses, which can shoot down a missile within 7 km. Scientists are currently testing the Prithvi anti-ballistic missile system, which is scheduled for induction by 2013. The Prithvi can destroy ballistic missiles at a range of 80 km. The scientist informed that Indian scientists are developing the second-phase Prithvis, which is capable of destroying incoming ballistic missiles.

 

[sayareakd]

According to a DRDO scientist, the laser-based anti-ballistic missile systems have gone through standard testing procedures. An air defense dazzler, one of the weapons, can engage enemy helicopters at a 10 km range. The laser weapon will be set for induction in the next two years.

it should be is going through or will go through ???

 

[keshtopatel]

Water assets are better placed (warcrafts) than an aerial platform to launch a shooting (Laser) beam, because it requires lot of cooling. Other thing being the high electric energy consumed by solid state lasers when they are born, the more KWs the better results, but extreme electrical power in use, hence very big platform.

US is using four time more KWs than India.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Yet, some articles are written in thread of DRDO and PSU news and discussion, I think we need a thread for dedicated info.
@Navnit Kundu may be interested.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

DRDO developing high energy beam weapons; project likely to be completed by 2017

[Representative Image] India's DRDO is developing directed energy weapons that can beam high energy (laser, electromagnetic, microwaves) to take on a UAV or ballistic missiles. In Picture: An Indian army soldier stands guard next to an Indian army's communications and radar facility at the India-Pakistan border near Amritsar, May 25, 2002.Reuters

In what is being dubbed as Star Wars-like weapons, India's premier defence research lab Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is said to be developing Directed Energy Weapons (DEW). This could include the use of high-energy lasers and high-powered microwaves as weapons of the future.

Countries like the U.S., Russia, China and others are far ahead of India in the research and development of DEW, and India too is "trying to make some headway towards such futuristic weapons," theTimes of India reported.

DRDO is currently working on a 10-kilowatt DEW that will enable the armed forces to take down targets like UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). It is also working on the "establishment of critical technologies of precision tracking/pointing and laser beam combination," the report said.

DRDO has already tested the "system" for a range of 800 meters at its Hyderabad-based Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS). It was reportedly shown to the armed forces at Ramgarh, Haryana, based Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory in 2015.

DRDO has also developed smaller systems like laser-based ordnance disposal of IEDs and mines, hand-held laser dazzlers for use against terrorist and vehicle-mounted laser dazzlers to control mobs.

The New Delhi-based Laser Science and Technology Centre, a DRDO lab, is said to be working on a variety of weapon systems ranging from "chemical oxygen iodine lasers" to "high-power fiber lasers" for strategic applications. One of the projects in development is a 25-kilowatt laser that is being designed to target a "terminal phase" ballistic missile, at a range of 5 to 7 kms.

The government released Rs 115 crore in February 2014 to CHESS in order to develop "experimental technology modules for directed energy laser systems," and this added impetus to the project, which is scheduled to be completed by July 2017.

The DEW is not new to the defence ministry's planners, since the development of DEWs and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons was classified as "top-priority area" in the 15-year "technology perspective and capability roadmap" that was prepared by the ministry.

The TOI report also noted the operational significance of such weapon systems -- cost-effective and flexible, can engage multiple targets, silent and stealthy, no limitation on stock or magazine capacity and has pinpoint accuracy.

However, one of the challenges for the DRDO scientists is to have a solid-state laser DEWs that can be used from aircraft and warships, and which can destroy enemy ballistic missiles in their "boost phase" itself and not wait until the "terminal phase."

 

[HariPrasad-1]

Awesome, Simply awesome. It is tested fro 800 M. Next one shall have a range of 7 km.
It is great. We must use these lasers to dig a hole in the bodies of Porki intruders.

 

[Superdefender]

10kW for taking down UAVs. Future Destroyers will use 100kW solid state laser weapon, both for offence and defence. Firing for 1st time will consume much energy, reload time depends on that and cooling quickly. First Railgun by US was able to burst only once. But ours will be different from theirs. It will happen as missiles will be toys of past.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

DRDO beings testing of Gas dynamic laser-based Aditya technology demonstrator

DRDO’s Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) which have been tasked to build India’s Star Wars-like weapon systems for the Indian Armed forces in the near future have finally begun testing a vehicle-mounted “gas dynamic laser-based DEW system dubbed ” Aditya” which is a technology demonstrator to prove beam control technology.

Above image tweeted by prominent defence journalist Saurav Jha courtesy of DRDO is a directed energy weapons (DEWs) technology demonstrator dubbed Aditya which is mounted on a truck.

The directed energy weapons (DEWs) technology uses subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves at the speed of sound to cripple or destroys their targets. DRDO’s LASTEC has been tasked to develop a slew of DEWs which can be used by Armed forces to control rioting crowds to high-powered lasers to destroy incoming missiles.

LASTEC will be developing Lethal and Non-Lethal variants of which in Non-lethal variants hand-held DEWs have been developed which are easy to carry and can be used in disorienting single adversaries, LASTEC will develop DEWs which can be used as Crowd-control dazzlers mounted on vehicles to dispel rioting mobs and another variant planned will be development of Laser-based ordnance disposal system which can be used to neutralise IEDs and other explosives from a distance.

In lethal variants, LASTEC will develop Air-defence variant of DEWs which can be used against UAVs, Helicopters at a range of 5-10kms which can guard airspace of an area of 10 km with a 360° view,

other key development will be of a 25-kilowatt laser systems to destroy missiles during their terminal phase under 10km range, where the missile skin will be heated to 200-300 degree leading to warhead inside the missile to detonate mid-air and ultimate DEWs which will be developed over a period of few year will be that of 100-kilowatt solid-state laser systems, mounted on aircraft and ships, to destroy missiles in their boost phase itself .

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Awesome, Simply awesome. It is tested fro 800 M. Next one shall have a range of 7 km.
It is great. We must use these lasers to dig a hole in the bodies of Porki intruders.

Or important task is to catch up with US, Russia and China.
Come on man, ignore porkis, they can't make a simple laser pointer.
We have much important things instead of wasting time on them.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

Or important task is to catch up with US, Russia and China.
Come on man, ignore porkis, they can't make a simple laser pointer.
We have much important things instead of wasting time on them.

I am not telling to compete with porkies but I simply tell that we should use it against terrorist to neutralize them to a greater distance without bullet.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

@HariPrasad-1 Anyway, if you want something against terrorists,
DRDO's Active Denial System(ADS)
‘Active denial systems to smoke terrorists out of hideouts’ - The Hindu
Active Denial System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Directed-energy weapon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Directed Energy Weapons, India’s Strategic Game Changer? |

‘Active denial systems to smoke terrorists out of hideouts’​

​

The active denial systems (ADS) being developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) can freeze terrorists without causing any physical harm. It can create an uncomfortable pain-like feeling in terrorists taking shelter at a safe zone and force them to come out from their hideout.

This system works with High Power Electro Magnetic Waves which is part of developing Electromagnetic Warfare.

Disclosing these details at a lecture on ‘Opportunities for Research in DRDO’ held at GITAM, Hyderabad campus, on Friday, V. Bhujanga Rao, Director General (Naval Systems and Materials), DRDO, said that the defence organisation has also been developing microprocessors – Anurag and Anupama – to meet the requirements. Informing that Rs. 15,000 crore is being released annually by the Union Government to take up research by 52 establishments across the nation, Dr. Bhujanga Rao said that it took Rs. 20,000-crore investment and two decades of struggle involving 500 industries to develop Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Stating that the engines of LCA need to be developed indigenously, he said that the process is on. Dr. Bhujanga Rao also explained radar technologies covering different radius, 3D mobile range surveillance radar systems that are being used at border areas, array radar systems, weapon locating radars, airborne radar system and aerostat technology. Informing about Lakshya, Nishant and Rustum, he said even a man walking on the road or any vehicle can be identified through these systems.

“It is costing about $20,000 to take a payload of one kilogram into the space and we want to reduce it to $200 by 2050,” he said.

GITAM Pro-Vice-Chancellor R. Shiva Kumar, Director N. Shiva Prasad and others were present.

System is part of developing Electromagnetic Warfare, says DRDO Director General Bhujanga Rao