Journal of Military Technology Vol. 2, No. 1, Jun. 2019
Digital Object Identifier 10.32754/JMT.2019.1.10
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Abstract—This paper presents briefly a piece of military
equipment designed to detect and destroy different targets such
as missiles using a laser beam for detection and another for
deactivation. The general name for this equipment is Laser
Weapon System (LaWS). The LaWS is a ship-defense system
that has so far publicly engaged different targets like drones,
small ships or missiles. LaWS uses an infrared beam from a
solid-state laser array which can be tuned to high output to
destroy the target or low output to warn or cripple the sensors
of a target. The low cost per shot it is an advantage, as each
firing of the weapon requires only the minimal cost of
generating the energetic pulse.
Index Terms—Amplification, anti-missile, army, energy,
LASER, sources, weapon.
I. INTRODUCTION
Department of Defense (DOD) development work on
high-energy military lasers, which has been underway for
decades, has reached the point where lasers capable of
countering certain surface and air targets at ranges of about
a mile could be made ready for installation on Navy surface
ships over the next few years. More powerful shipboard
lasers, which could become ready for installation in
subsequent years, could provide Navy surface ships with an
ability to counter a wider range of surface and air targets at
ranges of up to about 10 miles [1].
Potential targets for shipboard lasers include the
following:
• electro-optical (EO) sensors, including those on anti-
ship missiles;
• small boats (including so-called “swarm boats”) 14 and
other watercraft (such as jet skis);
• rockets, artillery shells, mortars (sometimes collectively
referred to as RAM);
• UAVs;
• manned aircraft;
•ASCMs;
• ballistic missiles, including ASBMs [1].
Directed energy systems, including solid-state and fiber
optic lasers and the electromagnetic projectile required
Laser Power Levels for Countering Targets. A laser’s ability
to disable a target depends mainly on the power and beam
quality of its light beam. The power of the light beam is
measured in kilowatts (kW) or megawatts (MW). Additional
factors affecting a laser’s ability to disable a target include:
• atmospheric absorption, scattering, and turbulence;
• jitter – the degree to which the spot of laser light jumps
around on the surface of the target due to vibration or other
movement of the laser system;
• target design features, which can affect a target’s
susceptibility to laser damage [1].
C. D. PISAU is with the Military Technical Academy „Ferdinand I”,
Bucharest PO 050141, Romania (e-mail: catalindumitru2018@yahoo.com)
The launcher, have the potential to help address these
threats as well as perform additional high value missions.
The inherent characteristics of laser weapons, speed of light
engagement, precision targeting, rapid shot generation and
tunability, offer the opportunity for expanded engagement
options against a range of threats. These features can
enhance the ability of naval units to defeat large raids and to
counter short time-of-flight threats such as rockets, mortars
and artillery shells. Equally important, laser weapons could
bend the cost-exchange curve between offensive and
defensive systems that appears at present to favor the former
over the latter. When not employed as a weapon system, the
inherent electro-optical/infrared properties of laser weapons
could be used as a high fidelity intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance sensor. Maritime laser weapons (MLW)
have the potential to help counter the range of threats the
Navy will have to confront [2].
The realization is setting in that the military superiority
enjoyed by the United States over the two decades following
the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold
War is eroding. Adversaries of all types have “gone to
school” on the so-called American Way of War in order to
identify weaknesses that could be exploited. In some
instances this meant selective investment in advanced
capabilities. In other cases, prospective adversaries have
sought to create leverage by deploying large numbers of
relatively simple and low-cost platforms and systems in
order to overwhelm their more technologically-sophisticated
opponents or just create an unfavorable cost-exchange ratio
[2].
Directed energy weapons have been said to offer the
potential to transform warfare for decades, with their
combination of deep magazines, long range, precision
engagement at the speed of light and relatively low cost per
shot. Past efforts to develop a militarily-effective and
affordable laser weapon system had limited success. Over
the past several years, however, research and development
(R&D) demonstrations have proceeded to a point that
suggests a solid-state maritime laser weapon could have a
significant impact on future naval operations [2].
China also is working on advanced weapons technologies
that could negate current U.S. capabilities and require
development of entirely new offensive and defensive
capabilities. On January 9, 2013, China tested a hypersonic
vehicle atop an intercontinental ballistic missile. A
hypersonic weapon travels at more than five times the speed
of sound. Once launched into space, this vehicle separates
from its booster and then maneuvers at the edge of the
atmosphere at speeds up to a dozen times that of sound.
Hypersonic weapons, like the first long-range ballistic
missile, will totally transform conventional warfare making
sitting ducks of aircraft and surface ships. The U.S. Navy is
already having trouble defending against slower supersonic
High Power Lasers in Military Applications
