With the progress of military laser technology prediction that battlefields will become like lasers flight like SF movies

In the world of fiction such as science fiction movies and animation, it is often drawn how colorful laser beams flutter. In the past it was thought that laser weapons are not realistic, but as a result of the continuation of research on laser weapons in the world including the United States, as well as in the United States, until the launch experiment of the laser cannon is finally carried out, "Laser flight War is not a distant story ", and it is predicted in the site IEEE Spectrum which deals with information on technology and engineering.

Fiber Lasers Mean Ray Guns Are Coming - IEEE Spectrum
https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/military/fiber-lasers-mean-ray-guns-are-coming

2014,Prototype of laser weapon system mounted on US military transportation landing ship Ponceit was done. This laser weapon system is capable of outputting 30 kilowatts and can be launched at a rate of one dollar (about 110 yen). Also, in 2017Experiment installing laser weapons on attack helicopter "AF-64 Apache"Was done as well.


America is not the only one aggressive in introducing laser weapons. ChineseHolding Science Co., Ltd.And Israel'sRaphael,Germany'sLine metalWe are continuing our research so that military companies in each country can develop the same level as prototype lasers ultimately installed in Ponce. Also in Japan it is said that we are conducting research on laser weapons to prevent attacks by short range missiles like ballistic missiles from North Korea.

For example, the British Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) introduced a 50 kilowatt laser weapon called "Dragon Fire" in September 2017 at a cost of £ 30 million (about 4.6 billion yen). It seems that the experiment of Dragon Fire's operation has already been carried out, and it is said that public exercises are scheduled in 2019.


However, it is America that goes ahead with development competition of laser weapons. American company IPG Photonics,Fiber laserIt is said to be at the forefront in the development of technology called. Fiber laser is a laser amplified with optical fiber as a medium. Laser systems using fiber lasers have advantages of "high maintainability", "low maintenance cost" and "strong resistance to vibrations", so laser weapons since 1990 basically use this fiber laser system It is said that.


At the time of the Cold War, development of large-scale ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons was mainstream, but as the Cold War ended, the voice of nuclear abolition increased, missiles and rockets tended to be smaller. It is the shooting down of small missiles, boats and drone, which is regarded as important in the defense of the 2010s, and there is no need for a huge laser cannon as it appears in fiction. American aircraft development · military companyLockheed MartinRobert Ahsal, senior researcher at the laser and sensor system department, said, "The key points in developing military lasers are" small "and" strong ".


In 2017, the laser that Lockheed Martin delivered to the US Army 's Space Missile Defense Headquarters, adjusted to 60 kilowatts power, recorded the laser power with the highest efficiency as a military laser. The US military is said to be planning to introduce a laser weapon of 100 kilowatts output to the military truck of the Army by 2022 and a laser weapon system of relatively low output missile shooting down 10 kilowatts to fighter flying in the sky It is. Soldiers do not seem to shoot a small ray gun, but the era when laser beams fly over the battlefield, like movies and animation, is just around the corner.