Death Ray

                  Boeing Begins Flight Tests - Laser Gunship Program

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has begun flight testing for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program and has generated "first light" of ATL's high-energy chemical laser in ground tests, achieving two key milestones in the laser gunship development effort.

During the "low-power" flight tests, which began Oct. 10 and conclude this fall, the ATL ACTD system will find and track ground targets at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. A low-power, solid-state laser will serve as a surrogate for ATL's high-power chemical laser.

To prepare for the tests, the ATL aircraft, a C-130H from the U.S. Air Force 46th Test Wing, was outfitted with flight demonstration hardware at Crestview Aerospace Corp. in Crestview, Fla. The hardware includes the beam director and optical control bench, which will direct the laser beam to its target; weapon system consoles, which will display high-resolution imagery and enable the tracking of targets; and sensors.

Boeing fired the high-energy chemical laser for the first time in ground tests on Sept. 21 in Albuquerque, N.M. - an achievement known as "first light." Ground tests of the laser will conclude this fall. By 2007, Boeing will install the device on the aircraft and fire it in-flight at mission-representative ground targets to demonstrate the military utility of high energy-lasers. The test team will fire the laser through a rotating turret that extends through an existing 50-inch-diameter hole in the aircraft's belly.

  And we are worried about some sawed off little megalomaniacal creep with a Napoleonic complex, whose missile is a fizzle and his bomb's just a dud? Riiiight.

                        

  Boeing Begins Flight Tests and Laser Firings for Laser Gunship Program

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 13, 2006 - The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has begun flight testing for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program and has generated "first light" of ATL's high-energy chemical laser in ground tests, achieving two key milestones in the laser gunship development effort.

During the "low-power" flight tests, which began Oct. 10 and conclude this fall, the ATL ACTD system will find and track ground targets at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. A low-power, solid-state laser will serve as a surrogate for ATL's high-power chemical laser.

To prepare for the tests, the ATL aircraft, a C-130H from the U.S. Air Force 46th Test Wing, was outfitted with flight demonstration hardware at Crestview Aerospace Corp. in Crestview, Fla. The hardware includes the beam director and optical control bench, which will direct the laser beam to its target; weapon system consoles, which will display high-resolution imagery and enable the tracking of targets; and sensors.

Boeing fired the high-energy chemical laser for the first time in ground tests on Sept. 21 in Albuquerque, N.M. -- an achievement known as "first light." Ground tests of the laser will conclude this fall. By 2007, Boeing will install the device on the aircraft and fire it in-flight at mission-representative ground targets to demonstrate the military utility of high energy-lasers. The test team will fire the laser through a rotating turret that extends through an existing 50-inch-diameter hole in the aircraft's belly.

"ATL will transform the battlefield by giving the warfighter a speed-of-light, precision engagement capability that will reduce collateral damage dramatically," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "The start of flight and laser testing shows that Boeing is making solid progress toward making this revolutionary capability a reality."

Boeing is developing ATL for the U.S. Department of Defense through an ACTD program.

ATL will destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations. ATL will produce scaleable effects, meaning the weapon operator will be able to select the degree and nature of the damage done to a target by choosing a specific aimpoint and laser shot duration. For example, targeting the fuel tank of a vehicle could result in total destruction of the vehicle, while targeting a tire might result in the vehicle stopping without injury to the driver.

Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser industry team includes L-3 Communications/Brashear, which made the laser turret, and HYTEC, Inc., which made various structural elements of the weapon system.  Link

Comments

[Nobody]

Has anybody else seen the movie Real Genius?

[Spiffani]

Not only have I seen it, but I own it...it's a moral imperative!

On another note, this is actually old news.

[TheGreenOne]

Our military has already shown it's inclination to use it's weapons on it's own citizens. Let's all hope we don't piss our government off now. Remember: you are being spied on for your protection.

[Phoenix]

What weapons have our military used on us besides making us listen to the "Star Spangled Banner" by people who can't sing it?

They can spy on me all they like. I'm sure I'll make for a most interesting subject.

As far as hoping we don't piss off our government: How about they worry about pissing us off? Maybe we can get pissed-off enough to ensure ourselves a government that actually works together.

[august]

UH, arent lasers ....light? don't mirrors reflect lasers?

cool, chrome plated tanks, reflects the laser back at the plane....dumb, dumb, dumb....

Now how much did we spend on this one?

[Kevin]

I saw that thing in action on a video once (ground based though). The coolest part about the laser is you can't see it with the naked eye. There was a machine on the ground pointing a flat surface at a missile, then a second later the missile blew up!

If they pointed it at a plane, they'd be saying, "Hey, is it getting hot in *BOOM*".

[Mike]

Laser's aren't exactly like normal light. It has to be a perfectly made mirror, as the slightest imperfections will catch and bend the heat, warping the glass until it's no longer reflesctive.

[Sandman]

August-- learn some physics.

As for the "collateral damage" comment: how would an exploding fuel truck not cause "collateral damage." Sure, it's not as messy as hitting it with a 105mm high-explosive round, but it's still messy. That, and whatever light is reflected could blind bystanders who were otherwise unaffected by the shot.

[Kelly Parks]

Actually the mirror defense isn't workable. That only protects you if the mirror is 100% (across the entire spectrum) reflective. Since no mirror is, the beam just needs to dwell a little longer. With each second the heat deposited by the beam makes the mirror less and less reflective as the surface melts.

[august]

Learn some physics? ..Ok asshat, the laser is an infrared laser. directed back at the aircraft is an effective means of disabling the device...on the aircraft. dwell time notwithstanding, that 'dwell time' can be used to damage the optics on the aircraft, its engines, its fuel tanks, and bring it down. stupid human......

stop being so myopic and enchanted with technology, the vietnamese did a fine job of defeating us in Nam with bamboo sticks.

My point at the end was the more important one. why are we wasting more money on weapons. seriously, if we had back the money wasted on nuclear weapons we will never use, have to maintain and ultimately dispose of, our economy wouldn't be so f^$ked up. Who do you work for a military contractor or the pentagon or just watch too much startrek as a kid?

egad...get the point or don't write

[Mike]

Yes, moron, learn some physics. Angle of incidence = angle of reflection. I don't know where you got this fantasy that one could magically reflect this thing back at its origin by making the target sort of shiny.

On top of that, as someone else mentioned, you'd need an absolutely perfectly reflective surface to make it viable (I use the word sparingly, given the angular issues). Try maintaining one of those in any combat environment...or in any environment at all, for that matter.

Stupid human...

[Steel]

august ...

Your lack of knowledge in physics and optics is exceeded only by your ignorance of economics, past and present.

I'll chalk it up to you living in a cave or your parent's house.

Pretty much the same vis a vis the real world.

[*-JEM-*]

Not to pile on August, but how exacty would your chrome tank move even a couple of feet without kicking up dust and dirt, presumably some of which would coat the tank. As those debris particles were superheated by the laser, they would have the effect of millions of tiny bombs going off against the mirror finish, rendering it pretty much instantaneously ineffective.

[simon black]

Ah this is why I love the internet,
a man makes an observation from a laymans point of view, which to another layman may seem reasonable.
Then those people educated enough to perhaps enlighten the poor layman decide to call him an Asshat.
and the circle continues

[George Patton]

Welp, I don't know about that, but drivin' around in a chrome tank sounds kinda cool. Just the thing for those long drives into Berlin.

[Justin]

Lasers for the dark green objects, missiles/bombs/shells for the chrome thingies.

When ROBOTS get the LASERS, then watch out!!

[Tom]

Despite august's aggressive ramblings, he does bring up an interesting conundrum probably without even realizing he did so, The point i think he was ultimately aiming at (i hope) is that new technology designed to perform certain actions spawns newer technology to either enhance it or diffuse it (for those playing the home game this has been going on for centuries, take the development of the sword and then the shield, or bullets and kevlar weaves, etc etc etc etc)
No technology is ever "on-top" for long, but that does NOT mean that its development is pointless, it is simply a milestone in our technological understanding and application of laser technology. To use it as a tactical device means we can be more precise and more conservative in our use of energy, rather than using expensive fuel and explozive material we use a solid state chemical laser (solid state=no moving parts meaning power goes in laser comes out)
Quit being so aggresive August, your malicious attempts to belittle those who obviously understand real life only points to the fact that comic book logic is where most of your perception of the world comes from.

PS The Nazi's tried to do the big mirror thing to try and melt london, and we all know what happened to those guys, oh ya and for the record, their mirror didnt work either.
Douche your brain at least it'll smell better

[Phoenix]

Late to the dust-up..... but how did 'chrome-plated' tanks get into this?

Like do we really want our tanks shining brightly for the enemy to see?

Let's paint a nice bulls-eye on them while we're at it.

[George Patton]

Some bozo back up the thread suggested that all it would take to defeat a laser is a guy standing out in THE middle of the target area with a mirror and all he'd have to do is reflect the laser beam back to the source.

Then his imagination carried it to the even more absurd.

Chrome tanks.

The possibility that the person firing the laser might decide to fry his stupid ass and leave a rather large salad bowl in his place never occured to him.

I figure him for a comic book addict who shares a bedroom with his little brother.

[Steel]

George didn't write that.

[Steel]

But he would've.

[mdmhvonpa]

2 dumb things come to mind:
Spies like us
Real Genius

[Luke Skywalker]

So, George...... How does one aim/reflect the laser back on its source? It can't be done.... I think someone in the thread talked about this..

Dufuses on Parade

[Tom]

Just an addendum to my earlier thread, Kmarts having a sale on Asshats as we speak, perhaps some of the brighter minds on this thread should look into seeing if they have them in their size

[N. O'Brain]

"stop being so myopic and enchanted with technology, the vietnamese did a fine job of defeating us in Nam with bamboo sticks."

ER, well, no, they didn't.

It was a cut 'n run Democratic controlled congress that cut off all funding for the South Vietnamese government that lost the war.

That and the fact that the North Vietnamese invaded with several armored divisions.

Well, armored divisions and pointy sticks.