Airborne laser weapons a reality? Cool!
 

A U.S. Pentagon invention could make air combat resemble a battle scene from Star Wars, with a laser so small it can fit on a fighter jet, yet powerful enough to knock down an enemy missile in flight.

The High Energy Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), being designed by the Pentagon's central research and development agency, will weigh just 750 kg (1,650 lb) and measures the size of a large fridge.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050824/tc_nm/laser_dc

Well, this is certainly interesting. I am working on one of these military laser projects right now and ours is *much* bigger than a refrigerator, I assure you.

Laser power is one thing - pointing and aiming it is another. You need a stable platform and lots of complex optics to pull that off. Kinda makes the "fighter" application more complex.

Neat stuff.

Mike

Military lasers seems _so_ science fiction. We've seen it done on the movie screens for so long, it _has_ to be real, right? ;) It seems to me like it'd be very difficult to transfer enough heat to be useful. Aiming the thing never really occurred to me as a problem. I mean, my camera has an "image stabilized" lens with neat-o gyros that shuffle the optics around to keep the image properly focused. In my simpleton's mind, I wonder why we can't use similar technology to put laser-light where we want it.

I'm actually working on the "optical control" portion of our laser program and I am astounded at how much is involved in steering and point a laser. We're talking milliradian pointing accuracies in an environment filled with vibration (military transport aircraft).

As for "transferring enough heat", we're doing that... :>)

Mike

Also, FWIW, a more "real world" version of this technology is already in flight testing right now:

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/abl.htm

Not the program I'm working on, but these guys have already completed some flight tests...

Mike

Sweet. That _is_ neat stuff. I liked the part about the "rubber mirror," with hundreds of rapidly adjusting movable bits to compensate for atmospheric disturbance. Awesome.