Going for the ZAP
Adam Hadhazy, For USA Today 9:45 p.m. CDT April 9, 2016
USS Ponce operations
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/military/2016/04/09/going-zap/82850276/ Although the U.S. Navy’s $40 million Laser Weapon System (LaWS) just looks like a backyard telescope on steroids, this piece of equipment may herald the future of warfare — at sea, in the air and on the ground.
The first weapon of its kind the Navy has ever deployed, LaWS is mounted on the deck of the USS Ponce, which is based in the Persian Gulf region. In a series of successful tests run in late 2014 after its installation, LaWS’ invisible, infrared beams of energy knocked out various unmanned targets, including a small speedboat and a drone.
LaWS, the first fully approved laser weapon system for any military department, is but one of several examples of cutting-edge, so-called directed-energy weapons systems potentially entering service in the U.S. military over the next decade. This trend would buck those of the last half-century, when the military spent billions of dollars on research but ultimately axed numerous dead-end laser programs.
“After a multi-decade quest in search of directed-energy weapons, we’re finally on the verge of things you could put on a vehicle, deploy in combat and have them be useful,” said Paul Scharre, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
Many experts are keen on directed-energy weapons’ battlefield benefits, especially the potentially unlimited ammunition.
“This idea of unlimited magazine capacity? That’s the holy grail you’re chasing,” said Scharre. “It could dramatically change how we think about munitions and warfare.”
Other major advantages over conventional, projectile weapons include pinpoint accuracy and vastly reduced cost.
Missiles can cost millions of dollars each, yet the Navy has reported that a single zap from LaWS adds up to what you might find in your couch cushions — just 59 cents.
“At less than a dollar per shot, there’s no question about the value LaWS provides,” said Rear Adm. Matthew L. Klunder, then the Navy’s chief of naval research, in December 2014. “Laser weapons are powerful, affordable and will play a vital role in the future of naval combat operations.”
To further improve on the “lethality” of solid state laser weapon systems, the Department of Defense announced in October that it had awarded a $53 million contract to Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corp. for a Solid State High Power Laser Weapon System Demonstrator program for the Navy.
The enthusiasm for lasers extends to other branches of the military as well.
Chief of Naval Operations activity
In November 2014, then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert reviewed the control console for the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) aboard the USS Ponce. In a series of tests in late 2014, directed beams of energy from LaWS were successfully fired at targets. (Photo: CHIEF MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST PETER D. LAWLOR/U.S. NAVY)
“Directed-energy weapons are an area we’re headed toward, and we’re going there at a fairly good pace,” Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, commander of the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, said at a conference in September. “I think it’s a lot closer than people think it is.”
Honing laser’s focus
Although the DOD’s funding for directed-energy weapons has plummeted from a high of nearly $2.5 billion in 1989 to nowadays less than $400 million annually, the technology has nonetheless progressed, nurtured by developments in the commercial sector and academia.
“We’re shifting from, ‘Can I have the physics working in my favor?’ to ‘Can I have a system people are interested in and field it?’” said Spiro Lekoudis, director of weapons systems, acquisition, technology and logistics for the DOD. “The discussion is of when, not if, it’s going to happen.”
A shift in tactics regarding how directed-energy weapons might actually be used has further moved the needle toward their adoption.
For instance, the systems reaching maturity today are far smaller in scale, expense and scope than, say, the Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s — dubbed “Star Wars,” which envisioned shooting down ballistic missiles with high-powered, megawatt lasers.
Instead, analysts see lower-powered laser systems, such as the 33-kilowatt LaWS, taking out smaller threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones. These unpiloted aircraft are becoming ever cheaper to build, fly and possibly weaponize.
A swarm of bomb-carrying drones could overwhelm the traditional missile- and bullet-based defenses of a ship close to shore, draining its ammunition and delivering a lethal payload.
But a lightning-fast firing system in the mold of LaWS could counter just such an asymmetric, future threat.
“If (enemies) can launch swarms of low-cost kamikaze drones, then a weapon like LaWS might be pretty appealing,” said Scharre.
Fine tuning
For now, LaWS’s energy source is a stand-alone diesel generator. But laser weapons could be hooked right into the electrical system of a boat, vehicle or jet.
Because laser weapons heat up as they fire over and over again, keeping them cool and functioning properly in a realistic combat scenario remains a tough technical challenge, Lekoudis said.
Even so, the Navy has hopes of scaling LaWS’ descendants up to the several-hundred-kilowatt range and beyond, powerful enough to fry incoming cruise and ballistic missiles.
The deployed prototype of LaWS, meanwhile, is still being put through its paces in the Persian Gulf region. Although no new demonstrations have been announced, the engineers behind LaWS aim to make it more robust and reliable.
“The objective of the LaWS team onboard Ponce is to push this system and see what breaks and why,” said Lt. Ian McConnaughey, spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which includes the USS Ponce.
HOW DOES LaWS WORK?
A so-called solid state laser, LaWS works by pumping energy into a material infused with chemical elements. These energized elements emit light, which is amplified by mirrors and then directed out of the material toward a target.
