Boeing Successfully Fires 25 kW Solid-State Lasers, Laser Weapons One Step Closer to Being a Reality

Boeing has just tested its new thin-disk laser, the most powerful solid-state laser ever made. It fires at over 25 kilowatts, with the scalability proven to go up to a 100 kilowatt laser in the coming years. A 100 kW laser would be the most powerful ever made, one that has a lot of challenges to overcome, including reducing the excess heat generated by such a powerful laser and maintaining the quality of the beam over distances. But even a 25 kW laser is extremely powerful. As the press release says, it "will damage, disable or destroy targets at the speed of light, with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations." Hit the jump for the full release.

Boeing Fires New Thin-Disk Laser, Achieving Solid-State Laser Milestone

ST. LOUIS, June 03, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] fired its new thin-disk laser system repeatedly in recent tests, achieving the highest known simultaneous power, beam quality and run time for any solid-state laser to date.

In each laser firing at Boeing's facility in West Hills, Calif., the high-energy laser achieved power levels of over 25 kilowatts for multi-second durations, with a measured beam quality suitable for a tactical weapon system. The Boeing laser integrates multiple thin-disk lasers into a single system. Through these successful tests, the Boeing team has proven the concept of scalability to a 100-kilowatt-class system based on the same architecture and technology.

"Solid-state lasers will revolutionize the battlefield by giving the warfighter an ultra-precision engagement capability that can dramatically reduce collateral damage," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "These successful tests show that Boeing has made solid progress toward making this revolutionary capability a reality."

The thin-disk laser is an initiative to demonstrate that solid-state laser technologies are now ready to move out of the laboratory and into full development as weapon systems. Solid-state lasers are powered by electricity, making them highly mobile and supportable on the battlefield. The Boeing laser represents the most electrically efficient solid-state laser technology known. The system is designed to meet the rapid-fire, rapid-retargeting requirements of area-defense, anti-missile and anti-mortar tactical high-energy laser systems. It is also ideal for non-lethal, ultra-precision strike missions urgently needed by warfighters in war zones.

"This accomplishment demonstrates Boeing's commitment to advancing the state of the art in directed energy technology," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "These successful tests are a significant milestone toward providing reliable and supportable lasers to U.S. warfighters."

Boeing's approach incorporates a series of commercial-off-the-shelf, state-of-the-art lasers used in the automotive industry. These industrial lasers have demonstrated exceedingly high reliability, supportability and maintainability.

A high-power solid-state laser will damage, disable or destroy targets at the speed of light, with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations.



http://gizmodo.com/5013018/boeing-successf...being-a-reality

We're on our way to the Falken or Morgan... All we need is a more powerful laser, and mount it in a smaller airframe than a C-130... Then we could be able to make either a Falken or a Morgan that actually works kinda like the ones in Ace Combat... >>

I don't know... that doesn't sound like the Falken at all...

I suppose one day this will make dogfighting obsolete all over again?

...Well that's 'cuz a lot of people use the Falken for destroying things quickly... The US Air Force might use it for close air support against the enemies in the air and on the ground by using the laser to minimize the damage done to the ground forces... >>

i guess so... that laser would be like excalibur not like falken or morgan. The damn thing would be a mix between stonehenge and excalibur.

Alright let's start building an Excalibur.

I don't know about it being long-range within the atmosphere, but this would definitely work in Space, seeing as there are no forces to act upon the strength of the beam.

Still, we're that much closer to The Meson Cannon, Excalibur, OSLs, FALKEN, Morgan, Geopeilia, and the Night Raven.

This post has been edited by Lord of the Aces: Jun 6 2008, 10:07 AM

...OOH. What about a modified SR-71 Blackbird firing a laser from the Stratosphere, kinda like the Arkbird, but it actually helps eliminate any incoming bombers or fighters before they get halfway to their target...? >>

What about a modified F-22 with the laser instead of the 20mm cannon?

I may be wrong, but I think that this article is somewhat optimistic. I think that it will be a while before we have lasers as practical weapons, but they could be used for some very specific jobs a bit sooner. Check this out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_Laser). This, to me, is a realistic example of an application of lasers, to be used in the near future. As you can see, it isn't incredibly exciting, all it does is heat the "skin" of ballistic missiles, causing them to fail from the stress of flight.

There already are other lasers that are ready for combat, such as the THEL (Tactical High Energy Laser), which is on the market right now. It is designed for missile and artillery defense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Tactic...gh_Energy_Laser.
The Boeing laser is only a few years from actual combat use, once they solve the two problems the 100Kw version will have (heating of components and beam quality).

all I can say besides excalibur is, STAR WARS

we will haz spaec battel soon enough comradt.

'
Sorry, but the most powerful existing man-made object bearing any resemblance whatsoever to the Meson Cannon would be the Large Hadron Collider.

Well, I guess this thread calls for a suitably humourous picture, so I'll supply one:



Anywayyyy

Now that's a funny Falken!

This post has been edited by VNAF Ace: Jun 10 2008, 08:16 AM

Bing! Tempest wins! Good one

WOW! tempest! that is the best one ever! and I have watched all of those videos...

I love the picture they put on the actual site. Death Star...

Friken funny.

Well next time the world is at war with these hings we wont call it ww3. But battlestar galactica or the war of photons maybe even the galactic civl war.