From bernies at panix.com Fri Mar 6 22:40:10 2015 From: bernies at panix.com (bernieS) Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2015 22:40:10 -0500 Subject: [Laser] Lockheed Martin successfully field tests 30KW laser weapon Message-ID: http://www.smnweekly.com/lockheed-martin-successfully-field-tests-new-laser-weapon/19804/ Lockheed Martin successfully field tests new laser weapon By David M. DeMar / March 6, 2015 Defense and security technology Lockheed Martin has successfully field tested the Advanced Test High Energy Asset weapon system, sending a high-powered laser straight through a truck. Advertisement ATHENA ,which fires 30-kilowatt lasers generated by fiber optics, was able to disable the engine of the truck during the recent demonstration. It was the highest power laser blast ever used by this particular type of laser weapon; Lockheed Martin said that the purpose of the test was to highlight innovative weapon designs that can provide both power and precision. The chief technology officer for the company, Keoki Jackson, said in a statement that fiber optic lasers have the potential to revolutionize direct energy systems. Lockheed Martin has invested in every one of the system's components, which include the power efficiencies, weight and drive size of the laser itself but the beam control and the optics, Jackson added. The ground-based prototype was tested by firing at the stationary truck from over a mile away. The laser burned through the vehicle's engine in just a few seconds. The power of the laser comes from a technique known as "spectral beam combination," which uses a multitude of fiber laser modules to construct one cohesive beam that Lockheed Martin says can provide higher level lethality and efficiency than other systems that use multiple individual 10-kilowatt lasers. Advertisement Jackson says that the demonstration highlights the kinds of defense technologies that Lockheed Martin is interested in developing in the future. The chief technology officer remarked that the next step will be to provide both rugged and lightweight laser weapon systems to the military, which could be mounted on trucks, ships, and aircraft such as helicopters. The US military is quite keen on the research and development of laser-based weaponry. In fact, the Office of Naval Research is purportedly constructing a laser weapon that can be used to shoot unmanned aerial vehicles from the sky from a safe distance. The US Navy has also tested a 30-kilowatt laser similar to the Lockheed Martin device in late 2014 aboard a ship in the Persian Gulf.