Laser/Beam weapons

[sesha_maruthi27]

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.

In recent months, for example, it inducted a long-range nuclear-tipped missile into its armed forces, unveiling, also, a defense spending budget spiked by 24 percent since last year.

The moves have Pakistan fretting, with leading officials billing India's drive a "massive militarization."

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.

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

Sorry, I did not see it when i posted this. It did not appear in the similar threads. So, I posted this. I request the Moderators to delete if they find this is of no use.:happy_8:

 

[black eagle]

sorry, i did not see it when i posted this. It did not appear in the similar threads. So, i posted this. I request the moderators to delete if they find this is of no use.:happy_8:

thank you. Huggs........

 

[pmaitra]

Below is a documentary about this wonderful discovery of a mode of light emission, called LASER:

[video=vimeo;904366]http://vimeo.com/904366[/video]

 

[Patriot]

Boeing Installing Beam Control System On HEL Laser Demonstrator

Boeing reports that its High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) team in Huntsville is installing subassemblies on the Oshkosh Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), while a HEL TD team in Albuquerque, N.M., is integrating the laser beam director assembly with the beam control system.

These technical integration tasks are being performed to prepare for installation of the beam control system on the HEMTT later this year.

HEL TD is a solid-state laser system demonstrator that will verify the ability to shoot down rockets, artillery and mortars. Boeing is developing the system under contract to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

"We are applying the best of Boeing to deliver this ground-breaking technology to the warfighter as soon as possible," said Blaine Beardsley, Boeing HEL TD program manager.

"The HEL TD program provides a great opportunity to apply the ultra-precision, speed-of-light benefits of directed energy that will dramatically improve our customer's defenses on the battlefield."

The subassemblies being installed on the eight-wheel, 500-horsepower HEMTT include a generator and heating, ventilation and air conditioning units.

The vehicle also is equipped with a system enclosure, a structure that will hold much of its critical hardware, including the beam control system and beam director.

After installation of the beam control system onto the HEMTT, HEL TD will enter low-power system testing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

These tests, scheduled for next year, will demonstrate the HEL TD system's ability to acquire, track and target moving projectiles. The HEMTT will later be equipped with a high-energy laser that can destroy those targets.

HEL TD will acquire, track and select an aimpoint on a target; then the system will receive the laser beam from HEL TD's laser device, reshape and align it, and focus it on the target. The system includes mirrors, high-speed processors and high-speed optical sensors.

Boeing is developing directed energy systems for a variety of U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy applications. Besides HEL TD, these systems include the Free Electron Laser, the Tactical Relay Mirror System, and the Compact 3-D Imaging Camera.







http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Boeing_Installing_Beam_Control_System_On_HEL_Laser_Demonstrator_999.html

 

[Patriot]

Navy's Super-Laser Hunts for Cosmic Energy Secret

The Navy has lots of plans for the "Holy Grail" of energy weapons, from burning enemy missiles out of the sky to helping aim a ship's traditional guns. But the Navy has a more expansive use in mind for its Free Electron Laser: find the basic power source of the universe.

Oliver K. Baker is a 51 year-old Yale particle physicist. Every few months, he leaves tweedy New Haven for the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia, where he powers up the Navy's Free Electron Laser, a laser the size of a schoolbus that uses supercharged electron streams to generate photons in one of a multitude of wavelengths. He fires the resultant beam of light into a tube containing a vacuum — all in the hope of finding trace elements of so-called "dark energy," the stuff God uses to heat His celestial home. (Well, maybe, kinda sorta.) Far off as Baker's research may be from hitting paydirt, the Office of Naval Research, which runs a $163 million project to turn the laser into a death ray, writes the checks that make it possible.

Dark energy is purely theoretical, for the time being: no one's actually discovered it. But physicists figure that since the universe is accelerating as it expands outward from its Big Bang origins, something must be powering that expansion. Finding the cosmic energy source is a proposition that intrigues the Navy, considering how epochal its discovery and harnessing would be for humanity.

"If proven correctly through quantum mechanics," explains Quentin Saulter, the Office of Naval Research's program manager for the Free Electron Laser, dark energy "would comprise the majority of the energy in our universe. The majority of energy in our universe. And we don't use it."

Find dark energy, figure out how to make it an applicable power source, and humanity enters a new era. Hydrocarbons become irrelevant against a theoretically unlimited power supply. And that's just the start: imagine sending emails to the furthest reaches of space. Theoretically, "dark matter particles can go through entire planets with no degradation, so we could communicate through suns, planets and stars," Baker says. "They have all kinds of applications if we could prove their existence. Energy is just one of them."

That's why Saulter dug nearly $300,000 out of his budget just last year alone to fund Baker's hunt for the mystery particles. It's an effort that stretches back to 2005, when Baker was a Jeff Lab scientist who asked Saulter if he could borrow the Office of Naval Research's super-laser from time to time. Saulter was intrigued and provided Baker with access to the Free Electron Laser and seed money to perform related experiments on the Yale campus, using a compact accelerator to generate 34-gigahertz microwave photons. "Right now, the only funding I get to pursue this research is ONR money," Baker says.

And the money would be irrelevant if ONR didn't let Baker shoot its laser. To simplify and summarize his research, Baker's team of around a dozen scientists uses the Free Electron Laser to look for something called a chameleon particle, predicted in some models of dark energy. A chameleon particle is a unit of dark energy whose mass changes depending on its environment. Inside the vacuum of space, the particle would have mass of zero, the same mass a photon possesses.

Couple a Free Electron Laser with a magnetic field, shooting the laser into a length of empty pipe with transparent flanges sealing the ends, and "I can create chameleon particles, if they exist in this mass and coupling range," Baker says. "If they tried to penetrate the glass flange, their mass would grow rapidly, so they'd violate energy conservation. They have an energy that's tuned to the original photon that made them." The Free Electron Laser generates a higher average power than other lasers, making it ideal for such research.

Then it's a matter of turning off the laser while the magnetic field remains on. The particles, in theory, should change back into photons. (They're "chameleons," after all.) If there are photons still bouncing around the tube — and the Free Electron Laser works with the team's photon detectors more easily than any regular old laser — Baker will have made a remarkable discovery.

Not that it's worked so far. "You never know," Baker says. "We could see something new. Or the theories could be wrong. Or theories could be right but we're not sensitive enough with our instruments."

For now, Saulter's happy to fund the search. After all, the Free Electron Laser's budget is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Using a funding arrangement with Jeff Lab, the Office of Naval Research has given Baker about $900,000 over the past five years — a total that amounts to digging through Saulter's couch cushions for loose change.

"If we can understand [dark energy] and control it and use it to our benefits, we can see things like fossil fuels going away, new types of communications," Saulter says. "If we can change dark energy"¦ back into regular energy, now you're talking about Star Trek-like 'Beam me up, Scotty'-type stuff."

The Office of Naval Research is still years away from fielding a Free Electron Laser weapon on any ship. It's safe to say that by the time the weapon comes on board, it won't be generating its intended 100 kilowatts of power from any dark energy. "FEL will not be powered by dark energy," concedes Tammy White, a spokeswoman for the office. We're just looking ahead and into the far future."

Then again, Baker says, "You just never know. We could be around the corner, we could be years away."






http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/11/navys-super-laser-to-hunt-for-dark-energy/

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/J..._State_Laser_Keeps_Lasing_And_Lasing_999.html

Joint High Power Solid State Laser Keeps Lasing And Lasing

The beat goes on for the world's most powerful and reliable solid-state military laser
.

Since becoming the first to reach the 100-kilowatt power level threshold for a solid-state laser in 2009, Northrop Grumman has continued to push the performance parameters of the Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL).

Company engineers and technicians have logged more than six hours of operating time - all at power levels greater than 100kW - with the JHPSSL system as they prepare to integrate it with a pointing and tracking system for field testing.

"We don't know of another 100kW solid-state laser anywhere that has operated continuously for more than a few seconds," said Steve Hixson, vice president of Advanced Concepts - Space and Directed Energy Systems for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. The six hours of run time for JHPSSL doesn't include low-power operations used for routine maintenance, he added.

"That kind of performance is unparalleled in the world of high-energy lasers," Hixson continued. "The very reliable JHPSSL system just keeps lasing ... and lasing ... and lasing."

A major military sponsor for JHPSSL likewise noted the laser's reliability and dependability.

"Northrop Grumman has created the gold standard for high-power, solid-state lasers with its JHPSSL system," said Mark Neice, director, Office of the Secretary of Defense, High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office. "Not only did the company demonstrate the full set of performance qualities required for a solid-state laser weapon, but its achievements during the last 18 months remained unmatched in the community."

Northrop Grumman is putting JHPSSL through its lasing paces to prepare for its relocation from the company's laser factory in Redondo Beach, Calif., to a specialized, high-energy laser test range at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) for field tests.

Once there, JHPSSL will be integrated with existing beam control and command and control systems to form the core of the U.S. Army's Solid State Laser Testbed Experiment.

"We are operating JHPSSL to prepare for operations associated with the test site environment, timelines and procedures," said Dan Wildt, vice president of Directed Energy Systems for Northrop Grumman. "We also are collecting new information to support integration with a pointer-tracker system and a future integration experiment involving a mobile, ground-based laser weapon."

"As the challenges to our deployed forces continue to change, JHPSSL can provide a proven, affordable transition to fielding a military laser weapon capability in the near-term. We've shown time and again that this solid-state laser technology is capable, mature and ready to begin defending our forces," Wildt emphasized.

Martin Wacks, JHPSSL program manager, said JHPSSL's ongoing reliability and robustness is a testament to the team that put together the revolutionary capability. "This achievement in solid-state laser technology has received wide recognition because those inside and outside the industry realize its potential for near-term military uses."

The JHPSSL program is funded by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, Washington, D.C.; Office of the Secretary of Defense - High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office, Albuquerque, N.M.; Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.; and the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va. Responsibility for program execution is assigned to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Ala.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/12/18/unveiling-top-secret-military-technologies/

Secret Soviet laser tank 1K17

In the late 70-ies and early 80-ies the whole world's "democratic community" was in dreams under the euphory of the Hollywood Star Wars. Soviet part of the world in their turn were making the Hollywood dreams come true: the astronauts explored the outer space, battle stations and space fighters were developed, and "laser tanks" roamed the Earth.

The task of the laser complex was the counteraction to optic and electronic observing systems under severe climate and operating conditions.

The West believed that Soviet laser complex looked like this – the picture from "Soviet Military Power" magazine.

Two slightly different machines were developed, the constructors received two major country's awards for them. Despite the equipment was top secret, the Americans had the photos of it which they submitted for the consideration of the US Dapartment of Defence. The machine called "Stiletto" attracted great attention of the Western secret services.

Nominally the tanks are in the army even now, but their role is very obscure. After the tests they appeared to be of not much use for the army. Two tanks were found in the recycling site, some were probably utilized.
On the basis of "Stiletto" complex, a new laser tank 1K17 was constructed which had even more sad destiny. In 1990 the body of the machine was built and after the tests wass added to the army in 1992. the developers received the National Prize once again. That was the time when the USSR was 10 years forward in the lasers construction in comparison to other countries.

However, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the reconsideration of many Defense Programs. Despite the advanced technologies the high price of the laser equipment made the top secret "laser gun" not needed.

The only copy of the machine was hidden under the high fences for a long time till somehow was found in the exhibition of the Military Technological museum near Moscow.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_Office_Of_Naval_Research_Achieves_Milestone_999.html

US Office Of Naval Research Achieves Milestone

Scientists at Los Alamos National Lab, N.M., have achieved a remarkable breakthrough with the Office of Naval Research's Free Electron Laser (FEL) program, demonstrating an injector capable of producing the electrons needed to generate megawatt-class laser beams for the Navy's next-generation weapon system.

The Dec. 20 milestone, which occurred months ahead of schedule, will be the highlight of a two-day preliminary design review scheduled Jan. 20-21 in Virginia.

"The injector performed as we predicted all along," said Dr. Dinh Nguyen, senior project leader for the FEL program at the lab. "But until now, we didn't have the evidence to support our models. We were so happy to see our design, fabrication and testing efforts finally come to fruition. We're currently working to measure the properties of the continuous electron beams, and hope to set a world record for the average current of electrons."

Quentin Saulter, FEL program manager for ONR, said the implications of the FEL's progress are monumental. "This is a major leap forward for the program and for FEL technology throughout the Navy," Saulter said. "The fact that the team is nine months ahead of schedule provides us plenty of time to reach our goals by the end of 2011."

The research is a necessary step for the Department of the Navy to one day deploy the megawatt-class FEL weapon system, revolutionizing ship defense, Saulter said.

"The FEL is expected to provide future U.S. Naval forces with a near-instantaneous laser ship defense in any maritime environment throughout the world."

ONR's FEL project began as a basic science and technology program in the 1980s and matured into a working 14-kilowatt prototype. In fiscal 2010, it graduated from basic research to an Innovative Naval Prototype, earning the backing needed by senior Navy officials to ensure its evolution to advanced technology and potential acquisition.

The laser works by passing a beam of high-energy electrons generated by an injector, through a series of strong magnetic fields, causing an intense emission of laser light. ONR hopes to test the FEL in a maritime environment as early as 2018.

 

[black eagle]

polyus...

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Air_laser_could_find_bombs_at_a_distance_999.html

'Air laser' could find bombs at a distance

U.S. scientists say a new "air laser" will allow soldiers to detect hidden explosives from a distance and help scientists measure airborne pollutants.

Researchers at Princeton University say they've developed a technique for generating a beam of laser light out of nothing but air, a university release said Friday.

"We are able to send a laser pulse out and get another pulse back from the air itself," says Richard Miles, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton. "The returning beam interacts with the molecules in the air and carries their fingerprints."

Unlike previous remote laser-sensing methods, in which the returning beam of light is just a reflection of the outgoing beam, the "air laser" creates an entirely new laser beam generated by oxygen atoms whose electrons have been "excited" to high energy levels.

Using an ultraviolet laser pulse focused on a tiny patch of air, similar to the way a magnifying glass focuses sunlight into a hot spot, oxygen atoms in the hot spot become excited as their electrons get pumped up to high energy levels, eventually creating a coherent laser beam aimed straight back at the original laser, researchers say.

"In general, when you want to determine if there are contaminants in the air you need to collect a sample of that air and test it," Miles said. "But with remote sensing you don't need to do that. If there's a bomb buried on the road ahead of you, you'd like to detect it by sampling the surrounding air, much like bomb-sniffing dogs can do, except from far away."

 

[SHASH2K2]

India to research on Laser kill weapons

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.

In addition, Indian scientists are testing the Prithvi homemade anti-ballistic missile system, which can kill ballistic missiles at a height of up to 80 kilometers. The first-phase Prithvi is likely to be inducted by 2013, said the DRDO scientist.

Scientists are working on developing second-phase Prithvis capable of killing incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles.
​

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Nice developments,any news about KALI???

 

[SHASH2K2]

Nice developments,any news about KALI???

LF unfortunately KALI also is very mysterious like Godess KALI . Hope we will have some good news in coming years. If successful it should add new dimension to our missile defence attempts .

 

[roma]

i find it interesting that a country where the 2G mobile auction has been so rife with corruption a country where cows are on the roads etc etc a country where a minister goes for a public talk and the dias collapses ( Dr Chidambaram , some time in 2009 ) - sucha country can indegenously develop and produce this anti missile system which only 3 or 4 countries possess and above all that - it is going to be inducted for deployment in 2012 , hardly a year away ( according to the post above by sesha_maruthi27 on 16-10-10 at 09:53 PM - and in that post itself there is a contradiction of the date - defence sources say 2012 elsewhere in the same post quotes 2013 ) a country where it's space organization has a wide time frame of 2015 through 2018 to have it's first manned space flight - a country where the toilets for world games CWG cant be done on time - and now people are telling me they are gonna be top class technology in record time - HAH - i honestly think we have yet to hear the EXCUSES for what went wronG and why the project cant be implemented in 2012-2013 after all !!

I REALLY HOPE IM WRONG !!

 

[warriorextreme]

don't forget father of this technology..Nikola Tesla

 

[Tshering22]

Let's first see Pradyumna-I ABM getting the clearance shall we? The system is still in testing face and despite so many tests, we haven't inducted it yet.

 

[anoop_mig25]

i find it interesting that a country where the 2G mobile auction has been so rife with corruption a country where cows are on the roads etc etc a country where a minister goes for a public talk and the dias collapses ( Dr Chidambaram , some time in 2009 ) - sucha country can indegenously develop and produce this anti missile system which only 3 or 4 countries possess and above all that - it is going to be inducted for deployment in 2012 , hardly a year away ( according to the post above by sesha_maruthi27 on 16-10-10 at 09:53 PM - and in that post itself there is a contradiction of the date - defence sources say 2012 elsewhere in the same post quotes 2013 ) a country where it's space organization has a wide time frame of 2015 through 2018 to have it's first manned space flight - a country where the toilets for world games CWG cant be done on time - and now people are telling me they are gonna be top class technology in record time - HAH - i honestly think we have yet to hear the EXCUSES for what went wronG and why the project cant be implemented in 2012-2013 after all !!

I REALLY HOPE IM WRONG !!

1>well our priority was/is changed by external factors(count pakistan/china) . if there would have no animity between india-pak/china we(both) would have developed by now
2> our old economic policy which is begin presented to us in new bottle of late by congrees .
3> old guard of politican not ready to leave
4> indian "chalta hai" attitude

hope i ans your question

 

[roma]

i would have preferred to have used a comment facility but unfortunately it is no longer available .
I hope my post was not too offensive and i thank you for your reply - i accept yourreasoning . and together with many others who sincerely hope for india to arise, that the reasons and dificulties will be forcefully overcome.

 

[sayareakd]

Guys if drdo test a laser in next few years i wont be surprised, from what i have seen from the material available in public, i am surprised they have not tested something as of now.