Two American Airmen Seem to Have Been Attacked with Lasers

Two U.S. airmen were slightly injured by laser beams directed at their aircraft from the Chinese military base in Djibouti, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

"This activity poses a true threat to our airmen," said Dana White, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson. "It's a serious matter, so we're taking it very seriously."

"You'd have to ask the Chinese about their motivations" for targeting U.S. aircraft in Djibouti, the tiny Horn of Africa state where American and Chinese military bases are about four miles apart, she said.

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Germany's new Laser Weapon Demonstrator Makes Progress

MBDA Germany has edged closer to fielding a new deployable laser weapon system (LWS) following a series of day/night all-weather trials.

Conducted at the Bundeswehr's military training ground at Putlos on the Baltic Sea from 4-14 October, the trials were specifically designed to test the beam guidance and tracking system of the new LWS demonstrator in a sequence of simulated engagements of airborne targets. Firing of the high-energy laser was not scheduled for these tests, nor was an acquisition sensor deployed.

Quadcopters fitted with GPS transmitters served as airborne targets for the trials, performing a variety of dynamic manoeuvres at different ranges to prove the functionality of the overall system and the performance capability of the LWS's improved tracking system. The targets were preset, scanned with the laser target illuminator, and an aim point was held on the target for an extended period to simulate destruction of the threat.

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Lockheed: Lasers are Ready to be Deployed as Weapons

For years, the Pentagon has pursued the dream of directed energy weaponry — laser weapons that could defeat a foe for pennies when compared with the expensive kinetic weapons the department relies on. And for years, the technology proved to be elusive.

But the time has finally come where those weapons are capable of being fielded, according to a trio of Lockheed Martin executives who work on the development of the company’s laser arsenal.

“The technologies now exist,” said Paul Shattuck, company director for Directed Energy Systems. “They can be packaged into a size, weight, power and thermal which can be fit onto relevant tactical platforms, whether it’s a ship, whether it’s a ground vehicle or whether it’s an airborne platform.

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Northrop Grumman Wins 150 kilowatt Solid State High Power Laser Weapon System Demonstrator Contract for $53M

Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corp., Redondo Beach, California, is being awarded a $53,151,809 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Solid State High Power Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) program. The Office of Naval Research funded the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD) which was the first to demonstrate defeat of small boats at sea using a high energy laser. Recent advancements in the power and durability of commercially available solid state laser (SSL) technologies have enabled the Navy to execute a quick-reaction effort and operationally field an SSL weapon. The Navy Laser Weapon System (LaWS) AN/SEQ-3(XN-1) was installed on USS Ponce in the summer of 2014. After a series of test and certification steps, LaWS is now the first-ever fully approved laser weapon system deployed by any U.S. military service. The Office of Naval Research seeks to continue the advancement of SSL weapon system designs, architectures, and component technologies. The government believes that improvements in lethality may be achieved through maturation and optimization of a variety of system characteristics, including laser power, beam quality, beam director architecture, and other physical and optical aspects of the laser, beam director, and system design. Leveraging our experience and internal investments, the Northrop Grumman team is ready to fully support the three phases of the LWSD program. This contract contains options, which if exercised, will bring the contract value to $91,057,597.

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Related link.

minor update: the laser will be tested on the self defense ship in starting in 2018.

Israel Shows off Iron Beam C-RAM Laser Weapon

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems showcased its Iron Beam high-energy laser (HEL) system at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (ADEX) 2015.

The short-range counter rocket artillery and mortar (C-RAM) and counter unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) system was the centrepiece system for the Israeli manufacturer at the event running from 20 to 25 October.

First unveiled at the Singapore Airshow in 2014, Iron Beam is a mobile ground-based system that comprises an air defence radar, a command and control (C2) unit, and two HEL systems. The system can be configured in ISO shipping containers for mounting in a stationary location or on a truck or armoured vehicle, depending on the customer's requirements.

As previously described to IHS Jane's , the air defence radar first acquires the incoming round or UAV before a thermal camera takes over the tracking ahead of it being engaged simultaneously by two HELs.

According to Rafael, the lasers focus their beams into an area 'about the size of a coin', destroying the target out to a range of about 2 km. The company has declined to divulge specific power levels for the HELs, except to say that they are currently working with "tens of kilowatts", but expects to move into the "hundreds of kilowatts" in the future. Rafael does not produce the lasers itself, but sources them from several unnamed suppliers.

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John Connor: Say Hi to Boeing's 2 Kilowatt Anti Drone Laser

Hang on to your drone. Boeing’s developed a laser cannon specifically designed to turn unmanned aircraft into flaming wreckage.

The aerospace company’s new weapon system, which it publicly tested this week in a New Mexico industrial park, isn’t quite as cool as what you see in Star Wars—there’s no flying beams of light, no “pew! pew!” sound effects. But it is nonetheless a working laser cannon, and it will take your drone down.

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You could mount that about anywhere.  You just need 2 kw (plus) of power for it.

Robopocalypse Report #12: Attacking the Drones, Hacking the Car and the WTF Econonmy of the Internet of Compromised Things

Last time we dodged having the drone in the report.  This time, however, the drone wins the internet. The largest contingent of of drone news is about how to kill them though!

The US Navy practiced killing drones from helicopters during its Black Dart exercises (seen above).  

Boeing also demonstrated its 'man portable' Compact Laser Weapon System (2 kw) to shoot down a drone. 

Think tanks are starting to wonder what it means to operate in the era of persistent UAV surveillance.  

For us civvies, Popular Mechanics has an article on what to do to shoot down a drone.  Shotguns are best but supersoakers (if you can hit the drone) and sling shots work pretty well, too.  However, BB and paintball guns do not.

The drone which was shot down in Kentucky apparently only hovered with 22 seconds over the property before the owner took a shotgun to it.  There was a video out to 'prove' this, but the owner has changed the viewing to private.

Even mother nature has got it in for the drones!

The European Regions Airlines Association has continued to call for more regulation of drones in European airspace.

Shifting away from the anxiety sectors of drones, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross just dropped a $1 million investment in the Drone Racing League.

Switching to the self driving car, we don't have articles which deal directly with the technology iself, but ones which will act in a supporting role.   Or terrify us.  Hackers remotely cut the brakes on a Corvette and the Brits are considering testing technologies which will allow electric cars to charge while driving on the highway.  The fear from the hackers and self driving cars is pretty obvious.  The promise of robo taxis which recharge as they drive around town, never having a down time to charge, is exciting.

Bar tenders!  MIT wants the robopocalypse to come for you, too!

A George Washington University professor is working on robo flippers based on sea lions. 

Microsoft, those traitors! has helped develop an AI able to spot jokes in cartoons.

Jeff Atwood writes about the thing which actually scares me more than the Robopocalypse, the internet of things, more specifically The Internet of Compromised Things.

Tim O'Reilly worries about dealing with the Robopocalypse in his article called "The WTF Economy."

General Atomics 50 kilowatt Laser Passes Beam Quality Test, to be Tested in Avenger UCAV in 2018

The Gen 3 High Energy Laser System (HEL) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. completed beam quality and power measurements of G using the Joint Technology Office (JTO) Government Diagnostic System (GDS). The testing was performed by an independent measurement team under contract to the U.S. Government.

The new laser is representative of the third generation of technology first developed under the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS, Gen 1) program. This Gen 3 Laser has a number of upgrades that provide improved beam quality, increased electrical to optical efficiency, and reduced size and weight. The recently certified Gen 3 laser assembly is small at only 1.3 x 0.4 x 0.5 meters. The system itself is powered by a compact Lithium-ion battery supply created to demonstrate a deployable architecture for tactical platforms.

GA-ASI is looking to use the laser weapon module in the Predator C Avenger for deployment by 2018.

The Gen 3 HEL tested is a unit cell for the Tactical Laser Weapon Module (TLWM) that is currently under development. The TLWM is built for use on land, sea, and airborne platforms and will be available in four versions at the 50, 75, 150, and 300 kilowatt laser output levels.

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Livermore National Lab Builds 3.2 MW Laser Module for Czech Republic High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System

The US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has installed and commissioned an array of laser diodes with a peak power of 3.2MW. The diode arrays are a key component of the High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System (HAPLS). When completed, HAPLS will be installed in the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Beamlines facility in the Czech Republic.

HAPLS is designed to generate peak powers of more than 1PW (1015W) at a repetition rate of 10Hz and with each pulse lasting 30fs.To develop these diode arrays, LLNL partnered with Lasertel, a developer of high-powered semiconductor laser pump modules, which combined advanced semiconductor laser technology with novel micro optics.

"We are thrilled to be working with LLNL, which continues to push the boundaries for high-energy laser systems," said Lasertel president Mark McElhinney. "Our collaboration has enabled several new benchmarks for laser performance to be set in a remarkably short period of time.

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Britian Planning Laser Demonstrator & Lockheed Destroys a Truck With a 30 KW Laser

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has disclosed plans to compete the build and demonstration of a prototype high power laser directed energy weapon.

A supplier briefing for the project - known as the Laser Directed Energy Weapon Capability Demonstrator (LDEW CD) - is to be hosted by the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) in mid-April. The announcement of this event has followed the release of a prior information notice in February.

According to Dstl, the aim of the capability demonstrator "is to enhance the UK's understanding of the capability of laser-based weapon system, as well as assisting in the prediction of the anticipated system performance". It added that the project "will consist of system studies and hardware trials, culminating in a number of practical demonstrations".

No details of the power, laser type, or proposed platform for the LDEW CD project have been released to date. However, Dstl has confirmed that the project demonstrations will be required to establish five key metrics: the ability to detect, acquire and track targets at range and in varying weather conditions with sufficient precision; the ability to generate and precisely control a high energy laser; control of the irradiance of the laser; management of power and cooling demands whilst enabling operation of the laser over a prolonged period; and control requirements, particularly managing the risks such that the laser is safe to operate.

Dstl said it expects to award a single contract to cover the design, build, and test of the capability demonstrator. However, it added that, given the broad range of capabilities required to meet the LDEW CD research requirement, it "is not expected that a single supplier would be able to fulfil this requirement in its entirety". This infers an expectation that industry players will coalesce into multi-disciplinary teams to bid for the contract.

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The battlefield of the future recently came a step closer, as a Lockheed Martin laser weapon took out a truck in a field test. The 30-kW fiber laser weapon system was fired at a small truck mounted on a test platform, the laser beam disabled the running engine and drivetrain within seconds.

The recent field test used Lockheed's Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) ground-based prototype, single-mode laser, which is based on the company's Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) laser weapon system. It incorporates the 30-kW Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative (ALADIN) fiber laser developed by Lockheed.

ATHENA uses a process that the company calls Spectrum Beam Combining. Though laser weapons have been successfully tested in the past, Lockheed says that even though such systems could acquire, track, and destroy targets, they lack practicality as a tactical weapon because the inefficient nature of the lasers resulted in them being too large, needing too much power, and being difficult to cool.

Spectrum Beam Combining overcomes these limitations by using fiber laser modules where the active gain medium consists of an optical fiber doped with a rare-earth element such as erbium, ytterbium, neodymium, or others. The optical fibers are flexible, so the laser can be thousands of meters long for greater gain, while taking up very little space because it can be coiled like a rope. The large surface-to-volume ratio means that it's easy to cool. In addition, fiber laser are very durable and project a high-quality beam using 50 percent less electricity than an equivalent solid-state laser.

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US Navy Declares USS Ponce Laser Weapon Cleared for Operational Use

The U.S. Navy is has declared an experimental laser weapon on its Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) in the Persian Gulf an operational asset and U.S. Central Command has given permission for the commander of the ship to defend itself with the weapon, the head of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) told reporters on Wednesday.

The 30 kilowatt Laser Weapon System (LaWS) was installed aboard USS Ponce this summer as part of a $40 million research and development effort from ONR and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to test the viability of directed energy weapons in an operational environment, said ONR Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder.

“The captain of that ship has all of the authorities necessary if there was a threat inbound to that ship to protect our sailors and Marines [and] we would defend that ship with that laser system,” Klunder said.

“It would be [used] against those [unmanned aerial vehicles], slow moving helicopters, fast patrol craft.”

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Introducing Politron "Lasers"

With precarious particles called polaritons that straddle the worlds of light and matter, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a new, practical and potentially more efficient way to make a coherent laser-like beam.

They have made what's believed to be the first polariton laser that is fueled by electrical current as opposed to light, and also works at room temperature, rather than way below zero.

Those attributes make the device the most real-world ready of the handful of polariton lasers ever developed. It represents a milestone like none the field has seen since the invention of the most common type of laser – the semiconductor diode – in the early 1960s, the researchers say. While the first lasers were made in the 1950s, it wasn't until the semiconductor version, fueled by electricity rather than light, that the technology took off.

This work could advance efforts to put lasers on computer circuits to replace wire connections, leading to smaller and more powerful electronics. It may also have applications in medical devices and treatments and more.

[...]

Bhattacharya's system isn't technically a laser. The term was initially an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Polariton lasers don't stimulate radiation emission. They stimulate scattering of polaritons.

In a typical laser, light--or more often electrical current-- is pumped into a material called a gain medium that's designed to amplify the signal. Before the pumping begins, most of the electrons in the gain medium are in their least energetic state, also known as the ground state. Once the light or current hits them, the electrons absorb that energy and move to a higher-energy state. At some point, more electrons are high-energy than are low-energy and the device is said to have achieved a "population inversion." Now any light or current that goes in has the opposite effect on the excited electrons. It kicks them down to the ground state and releases pent-up light in the process.

Polariton lasers don't rely on these population inversions, so they don't need a lot of start-up energy to excite electrons and then knock them back down. "The threshold current can be very small, which is an extremely attractive feature," Bhattacharya said.

He and his team paired the right material – the hard, transparent semiconductor gallium nitride – with a unique design to maintain the controlled circumstances that encourage polaritons to form and then emit light.

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Integration of High Energy Laser with USNS Ponce Approaching

A laser gun that looks like a telescope will go to sea later this year aboard a Navy warship.

Over a 12-month trial deployment in potentially hostile waters, sailors will attempt to prove whether laser beams can serve as legitimate weapons against approaching small aircraft or high-speed boats.

For Navy officials and military contractors, much is at stake in the success of the demonstration. The performance of the fiber solid-state laser — to be installed aboard the USNS Ponce amphibious transport ship — will be seen as a litmus test for the wider use of energy-based weapons.

The Navy has spent about $40 million over the past six years on research, development and testing of laser weapons, although it has been pursuing the technology in various forms for much longer, with modest results. After decades of experimentation, so-called directed-energy weapons have yet to graduate from science projects to big-ticket procurements.

Officials and outside experts believe the Navy now has a real motivation to adopt speed-of-light weapons even though it has an ample arsenal of proven kinetic missiles and warheads. The reason is simple economics. A high-power solid-state laser, if installed on a ship that can generate hundreds of kilowatts of electricity, can provide firepower for as little as a dollar per shot, according to some estimates. By comparison, conventional naval gun rounds and missiles cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a piece.

The installation of the laser on the Ponce will begin this summer, said Chris Johnson, spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command. No firm dates have yet been set. “We are using this deployment as an opportunity to test a weaponized laser in an operationally relevant environment, similar to where future systems would likely be used,” he said. If the Navy decides to move forward with the project, the first operational weapons could enter the fleet sometime between 2017 and 2021.

Since being designated as the test bed for a laser weapon, the USNS Ponce has moved into the spotlight. The ship was taken off commission in 2011 but was resurrected in 2012 as an “afloat forward staging base” and transferred to the Military Sealift Command. Navy officials saw it as a fitting platform to experiment with lasers at sea.

The exact power level of the laser gun that will go on the Ponce is classified. Outside experts speculate that it is probably somewhere between 15 and 50 kilowatts.

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Lockheed Demonstrates 30 Kilowatt Fiber Laser

Lockheed Martin has demonstrated a 30-kilowatt electric fiber laser, the highest power ever documented while retaining beam quality and electrical efficiency.

The internally funded research and development program culminated in this demonstration, which was achieved by combining many fiber lasers into a single, near-perfect quality beam of light—all while using approximately 50 percent less electricity than alternative solid-state laser technologies. The unique process, called Spectral Beam Combining, sends beams from multiple fiber laser modules, each with a unique wavelength, into a combiner that forms a single, powerful, high quality beam.

"Lockheed Martin has opened the aperture for high power, electrically driven laser systems suitable for military applications," said Dr. Ray O. Johnson, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Lockheed Martin. "Advancements in available laser components, along with the maturity and quality of our innovative beam-combining technology, support our goal of providing lightweight and rugged laser weapon systems for use on military platforms such as aircraft, helicopters, ships and trucks."

The successful demonstration marks a significant milestone on the path to deploying a mission-relevant laser weapon system for a wide range of air, land and sea military platforms.

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US Army Tests Laser Weapon System Mounted on a Truck at White Sands Missile Range

For the first time, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defence Command used a vehicle mounted high-energy laser to successfully engage more than 90 enemy mortar rounds and flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) contracted by Boeing, was tested at White Sands Missile Range and confirms the capability of a mobile laser weapon system to counter rockets, artillery, mortars, UAVs, and reconnaissance sensors mounted on UAVs.

The beam control system (BCS) is a dome-shaped turret that extends above the roof of a 500-horsepower Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT). The beam director rotates 360-degrees and uses mirrors to point and focus the beam on a target.

[...]

These tests were the first in which HEL MD repeatedly destroyed consecutive rounds of mortars and aerial threats with speed-of-light precision and a high degree of accuracy,” Mike Rinn, vice president, Boeing Directed Energy Systems.

The recent testing utilized a 10 kW class laser which will be upgraded to an 100 kW class laser in subsequent demonstrations.

This joint project is entering its seventh year with a 2013 fiscal year budget of a staggering $US12.4 million.

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Rheinmetall Demos 1 kw to 30 kw Laser Weapons

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Portable Laser Cutter...Almost Laser Rifle

Zapping Mosquitoes With Lasers

Freakin awesome.  I want one for xmas.  Note guys, being the one that everyone used to take outside with them to be the mosquito bait, I SO want one.

Brin's Sundiver Tech Made Real?

When looking for ways to reduce heat in lasers, PhD student Kathrin Sandner and Helmut Ritsch came up with a revolutionary idea: The theoretical physicists suggest using heat to power the laser. In their work, recently published in Physical Review Letters, the two physicists propose the theory that the heating effect in quantum cascade lasers could not only be avoided but, in fact, reversed through a cleverly-devised modification of the thickness of the semiconductor layers. "A crucial part is to spatially separate the cold and warm areas in the laser," explains Kathrin Sandner. "In such a temperature gradient driven laser, electrons are thermally excited in the warm area and then tunnel into the cooler area where photons are emitted." This produces a circuit where light particles are emitted and heat is absorbed from the system simultaneously. "Between the consecutive emissions of light particles a phonon is absorbed and the laser is cooled. When we develop this idea further, we see that the presence of phonons may be sufficient to provide the energy for laser amplification," says Kathrin Sandner. Such a laser could be powered without using electric current.

"Of course, it is quite a challenge to implement this concept in an experiment," says Helmut Ritsch. "But if we are successful, it will be a real technological innovation." The physical principle behind the idea could already be applied to existing quantum cascade lasers, where it could provide internal cooling. This simplified concept seems to be technically feasible and is already being examined by experimental physicists.

Let's see if they pull this off. If so...o.O