A flying laser! DUH!
PEW PEW!
It's the Airborne Laser, YAL-1.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/abl/index.html
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Raptors and Lazers
- Thread starter Jeffe
- Start date
A flying laser! DUH!
PEW PEW!
It's the Airborne Laser, YAL-1.
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/abl/index.html
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
Big freaking laser
It's basically the AF's BMD project. Personally, I thought it was a joke when I first heard about it; a bunch of 747s with lasers just sounds like something from an old James Bond movie. I'm wondering if this project will get axed in the new budget cuts.
Why a 747? Is it a chemical laser or something? Is there open source on this thing anywhere that isnt wikipedia?
And Jeffe...What rag have you been reading? And this is Naval Aviation. I don't think a whole lot of people around here need to be told what SLEP is. The Navy Marine Corps team is the king of SLEP.
And Jeffe...What rag have you been reading? And this is Naval Aviation. I don't think a whole lot of people around here need to be told what SLEP is. The Navy Marine Corps team is the king of SLEP.
??? While promising, it hasn't proven anything yet - especially against ICBMs. We're 13 years into this program, and I haven't seen a lot of return on investment yet.
Whenever I consider this system, I remember what DeGaulle said about Brazil - "It's the country of the future, and always will be..." I'm afraid the airborne laser is proving to be the weapon of the future, and always will be.
I was under the impression that it hasn't been completely tested yet. I know that the Navy's BMD is tried and proven, but supposedly even that is under review.
I did find this:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,420810,00.html
They have made huge advances in the laser technology over the past ten or so years as part of that project, with being able to get a powerful enough beam from a reasonably portable power source.
Yes and yes. AvWeek did a thing on it sometime last year, but I can't find it yet.
Globalsecurity.org is usually a good resource:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/abl.htm
And this diagram has shows why you need a a 747-sized aircraft:
The Navy's portion of BMD is a much more conventional and proven way to shoot down missiles and has tested well, and relatively 'cheap' too, especially compared to other portions of the system. The airborne laser is is almost completely unproven and still completely unproven.
Laser technology still has a very long way to go before it becomes a more practical weapon. With current technology it still takes a jumbo jet to accommodate the entire weapon system, and that is assuming it will be in the right place at the right time to be utilized. Then you have to worry about health and maintenance of the weapon system, and on and on.......
I would not be surprised to see it axed soon.
Flash found the pic that I was searching for, but Boeing has some decent info (also embedded PDF links at the bottom are good) http://boeing.com/defense-space/military/abl/index.html
From some of the material already linked here it is claimed that it can destroy a liquid-fueled ICBM from 600 km and a solid-fueled ICBM from 300 km, I don't know the veracity of that info. Not 100 miles away, but still relatively close, depending on where you are.