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Laser-Cannon AC-130 Tests Begin


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Laser-Cannon AC-130 Tests Begin

By BRUCE ROLFSEN

A laser-cannon version of the AC-130 gunship has begun flight testing, according to U.S. Air Force and Boeing Co. officials. The “low-power†flight tests began Oct. 10 and continue through the fall.

The flights over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico involve evaluating how well the laser gunship’s target tracking system works. A low-power, solid-state lasers serves as the surrogate for a high-powered chemical laser still being developed.

The high-powered laser was fired for the first time on Sept. 21 in ground tests at Albuquerque, N.M., an achievement known as "first light," a Boeing statement said. The ground tests will continue through the fall.

In 2007, Boeing will install the high-powered laser in the C-130H and fire the laser at ground targets. The laser beam will be fired through a rotating turret mounted into an existing 50-inch-diameter hole in the C-130H's belly.

The advanced tactical laser is a Defense Department and U.S. Special Operations Command advanced concept technology demonstration program with Boeing as the main contractor. Central to the project is the Air Force Research Lab's Directed Energy Directorate and the 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which provided the C-130H.

A $200 million test budget will carry the project through flight testing.

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I recall the first time I saw Star Wars way back when... with the opening scene depicting space craft shooting laser beams at one another... it's strange to think that this technology is no longer science fiction!!!

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Guest LITTLE BIRD 117

I get it,from spaceballs,we have went from serius to starwars to spaceballs,whats up with that?"Your schwartz is much larger than mine"-another famus quote from Dark Helmet. :cheers:

LB :D

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In all seriousness though, it isn't going to do much for the looks of AC-130s (which have already aquired enough bumps and humps to make them far uglier than their earlier incarnations).

... unless they stick a friggin HUGE barrel on it, which of course will aesthetically make it more pleasing :cheers:

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I get it,from spaceballs,we have went from serius to starwars to spaceballs,whats up with that?"Your schwartz is much larger than mine"-another famus quote from Dark Helmet. :thumbsup:

LB :touche:

What I was meaning, is that so far the efforts for using lasers as weapons have been marginally effective and successful, mainly for two reasons:

- high power lasers need a huge amount of energy storage (mainly chemical components) which require big platforms to have a reasonable number of "shots" available

- optical distorsion from air requires a sophisticated aiming system (basically, another laser that tracks the target and tells exactly the weapon where to aim) to be able to have a good probability of hit of a hard target.

Lasers used as jammers are another story, since they need much lower power and can be electrically powered, thus basically have as many shoots as you want in a mission.

There are very few reports of successful ballistic missile "kills", thus I suppose the technology is still a long way from being mature.

We'll see when the Boeing YAL-1 (the airborne laser using a 747 as a platform) does the first shoots.

That's why I said "may the schwartz be with you: it was a way to say "good luck"

Davide

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What I was meaning, is that so far the efforts for using lasers as weapons have been marginally effective and successful, mainly for two reasons:

- high power lasers need a huge amount of energy storage (mainly chemical components) which require big platforms to have a reasonable number of "shots" available

- optical distorsion from air requires a sophisticated aiming system (basically, another laser that tracks the target and tells exactly the weapon where to aim) to be able to have a good probability of hit of a hard target.

Lasers used as jammers are another story, since they need much lower power and can be electrically powered, thus basically have as many shoots as you want in a mission.

There are very few reports of successful ballistic missile "kills", thus I suppose the technology is still a long way from being mature.

We'll see when the Boeing YAL-1 (the airborne laser using a 747 as a platform) does the first shoots.

That's why I said "may the schwartz be with you: it was a way to say "good luck"

Davide

I agree with you...

ABL is just another make works cash grab. The use of lasers as effective weapons inside Earth's atmosphere is marginal at best and too complex to make feasible. Conventional arms (bombs, rockets, bullets, missiles etc.) are easier to work with, more reliable and cheaper. Add this the 747 test bed (or even AC-130) with the ABL ask yourselves how long would those stay in the air patrolling of say within 100 miles of an enemy who has nukes on missiles etc and an abilty to defend themselves for one? Honestly even backwards N.K. would be able launch interceptors and a whack load of missiles to shoot the thing out of the sky with ease.

The laser at best may have an effective range of 100-150 miles and that is still not confirmed as reliable. All a country like N.K. or others need to do is just load up on say the KS-172 AAM and you can kiss your billion dollar ABL laser plane good bye.

Buy hey the Military Industrial Complex is more about making money and creating often overblown tales of how good their gear is, than it is in providing the real stuff needed to defend the nation and allies.

Sorry if my post sounds a little politically incorrect but IMO it needs to be said and I would not hold my breath on any truly tactical or stratigic LASER killing platform.

I'm not here to argue, but provide provacative thoughts on things as airy-fairy as effective laser killing machines are said to be.

Money well wasted, and could be better spent on better and more reliable tools for the military. Sorry if some here may be offended at my words but I live in the real world in this case.

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Apparently the YAL-1 and other laser weapons in development take the atmospheric distortion into account by firing a distorted laser that ends up being focused by the atmosphere... but I don't have a technical background, but that what I came away with reading their documents.

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The project's design and engineering team:

new-rg3.jpg

"Self-realization. I'm pondering the immortal words of Socrates, when he said, 'I drank what?'"

I understand their model will be mounted on a B-1B...you can heat a lot of popcorn with one of those.

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