The US Tests Deadly LASER Weapon on Its Fighter Jets

[Music] the three largest aerospace companies in the world boeing lockheed martin and grumman northrop were contracted by the united states to build the most advanced lasers ever the contract is mainly centered around lasers that could be mounted on fighter jets but ground-based and sea-based versions have been developed too now testing has commenced and the results are quite outstanding however other countries aren't to be left behind as they've come forward with impressive developments of their own in fact japan spain and canada have also contracted lockheed martin to develop their laser weapons and so the race to the most lethal laser-directed energy weapon is underway so in this video we'll be taking a look at how 60 years of research is finally being pieced together to develop the weapons of the future according to reports the air force via the air force research laboratory is working to equip fourth and fifth generation fighters with laser weapons this led to the launch of the shield program in 2015 where shield is an acronym for self-protect high-energy laser demonstrator full systems tests for capabilities against surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles were first slated for 2021 before being postponed 2023 and finally to 2024 the kova 19 pandemic took its toll among other things however this double postponement doesn't foil any major plans creating critical weapons such as these must come with some well flexibility of the timelines the laser weapon in development has three major components the pod into which other components will be fitted the actual solid state laser and the beam control systems the pod was assigned to boeing the solid state laser to lockheed martin and the beam control systems went to grumman northrop the milestones of progress are quickly marking the end of the development and production stage of the three main subsystems and the beginning of intense full systems tests if all goes green lasers would be able to shoot down hostile supersonic missiles with pinpoint accuracy while overcoming factors like wind turbulence and the mach speeds of targets the challenges don't end there though for years it's been a daunting task to make powerful lasers compact enough to be mobilized on fighter jets this is the main reason why even though laser development dates as far back as 1960 they're still not in mainstream use today like guns for instance the yal1 airborne laser one of the earliest somewhat effective lasers took up the entirety of a boeing 747 plane with its chemical components the application of this laser and swiftly taking out incoming ballistic missiles was simply not feasible and so the program was terminated today it's a different story due to technological advancements boeing already flew a pre-prototype pod installed on an f-15 fighter in 2019 in the same year ground tests also took off general atomics tested their demonstrator laser weapon system or dlws which successfully blew up air launched test missiles in new mexico no official reports have been released regarding the dlws's exact power class but it better be up for a challenge because lockheed martin already delivered a vehicle-mounted ground-based 60 kilowatt class laser weapon system to the us military and this laser knows how to damage stuff the u.s department of defense and u.s navy estimate a convenient one dollar per laser shot with the accuracy of a sniper over long distances on the ground or in the sky laser directed energy weapons would also have virtually unlimited rounds because they don't run on magazines filled with lead bullets but energy this takes out the delay of reloading that comes with missiles and guns this super low cost per engagement ultimately tilts the odds in favor of the us china russia and other countries open to the use of lasers not to mention that laser beams move at the speed of light making it almost impossible to outmaneuver them and lasers might just be the stealthiest weapon of all with the possibility of invisible detection until the damage is done and the target is blown out of the sky one major factor that hasn't been completely figured out is the weather the range and efficacy of beams can be significantly affected by weather conditions for this reason a future where lasers are the sole weapons on a fighter jet still seems bleak having lasers complement missile and gun armaments though that's something for the opposition to be worried about another cause of worry regarding the development of a laser weapon is that it can only aim at one target at a time so in the case of multiple targets lasers may not be the weapon of choice because it's highly unlikely that the targets will form a queue waiting to be blown out of the sky so although 2024 isn't too far away with tess looking like a very real possibility some still believe airborne lasers are still far from becoming a thing especially since the official test period has been postponed twice already costs and investments the military doesn't share this doubt though if anything they're pushing twice as hard laser-directed energy weapons are expected to be the most expensive directed energy weapons in development proof of this is seen in a poll carried out by verdict where laser dews had 69 percent of votes to be the most expensive dews the global value of dews reached 4.1 billion dollars in 2020 with no signs of slowing down as demand keeps surging the us remains in the lead with 41.6 percent of this market share the us military has been on a roll with dews and double dew expenditure from 535 million dollars in 2017 to 1.1 billion dollars in 2019. china comes in second with russia france germany and the uk holding other major pieces of the pie as of today the us already has 100 to 150 kilowatt lasers but is in a contract with lockheed martin for 26.3 million dollars to develop more powerful lasers from 300 kilowatts above lockheed martin set up a high energy laser and integrated optical dazzler and surveillance helios program in this regard boeing's contract with the us military is said to include at least 17 million dollars as announced by u.s senator martin heinrich at a boeing lab where many of these innovations come to life the u.s laser programs officially the shield program of the air force research laboratory is responsible for the development of laser-directed energy weapons in the u.s the program teamed up with lockheed martin boeing and northrop grumman setting up many programs with each of these companies for lockheed martin their helios program aims to detect threats identify them determine if they're threatening to the aircraft and if lasers would work in the situation boeing's program applies 40 years of research to develop a tactical laser weapon system that supports 50 to 300 kilowatt class lasers featuring a scalable and adaptable system design that could be easily upgraded in the future northrop grumman's contract is a program that creates the beam control systems to characterize the flight environment for atmospheric disturbances that could distort the laser beam that is the beam control systems must track incoming targets determine an aim point for the laser then focus the beam on the target lockheed martin as part of the shield program is also working on a separate weapon known as the tactical airborne laser weapon system or t-a-l-w-s which uses data from shield but involves the development of a complete laser directed energy weapon system as opposed to a single component like in their contract with the air force research laboratory now both the shield and talws lasers will likely be installed on not so stealthy fighters such as the f-16 the f-15ex and the a-10c for whatever reason russian laser weapons haven't really made talk of the town status but they have made some impressive progress maybe more progress than any other country but the us and china the paris vet is a russian vehicle-mounted laser weapon that was produced in 2017 and entered service in december 2019 chinese state media and manufacturers have also shared images and videos of both vehicle mounted and handheld laser weapons powerful enough to scar human skin and tissue anyway it still seems like a race to the first in service airborne laser system is far from over and anyone could get the ribbon irrespective of who's currently in the lead which is the united states by the way it's now obvious that the world's major countries are investing a good amount of resources in laser directed energy weapons and for understandable reasons the pros that come with these weapons might just set them apart from the crowd also there have been talks about modern wars involving space and orbiting satellites with laser weapons fighter jets and ground-based weapons can have a role to play in wars irrespective of the terrain including space okay hold on guys we might have just got word on the world's most powerful laser weapon apparently it is the wait a minute we can only share that with you if you're subscribed to this channel so if you're curious kindly click on the red subscribe button down below before you realize that this is a cheeky way to ask you to subscribe to this channel and click on the like button if you liked the video and when we do get word on the world's most powerful laser weapon you'll be the first to know thanks for watching we'll see you in the next video

Channel: Front Cost

Views: 407,149

Rating: 4.8497572 out of 5

Keywords: laser weapon, laser weapons, laser weapon system, deadly laser, lasers on fighter, directed energy weapons, us laser weapon 2021, air directed energy weapons, lasers on f 35, laser on f 16, high energy laser, us energy laser test, high energy laser weapon system, laser weapon test

Id: wxi0XVi4_Uk

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021