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Lockheed Martin To Build High-Energy Airborne Laser For Fighter Planes (newatlas.com)
Slashdot reader Big Hairy Ian quotes New Atlas: In a move that could revolutionize aerial combat, the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) has awarded Lockheed Martin a US$26.3 million contract to design, develop, and produce a high-power laser weapon that the AFRL wants to install and test on a tactical fighter jet by 2021. The new test weapon is part of the AFRL Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program tasked with developing airborne laser systems.
Airborne laser weapons are nothing new. Experimental lasers mounted on aircraft date back to the US Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s, but producing a practical weapon system has proven difficult. Previous attempts have resulted in dodgy chemical laser weapons so bulky that they had to be mounted in a 747, but the development of solid state fiber optic lasers is starting to change the game. Earlier this year, Lockheed's ground-based ATHENA system shot down five 10.8-ft (3.3-m) wingspan Outlaw drones by focusing its 30-kW Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative (ALADIN) laser at their stern control surfaces until they burned off, sending them crashing into the desert floor.
Airborne laser weapons are nothing new. Experimental lasers mounted on aircraft date back to the US Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s, but producing a practical weapon system has proven difficult. Previous attempts have resulted in dodgy chemical laser weapons so bulky that they had to be mounted in a 747, but the development of solid state fiber optic lasers is starting to change the game. Earlier this year, Lockheed's ground-based ATHENA system shot down five 10.8-ft (3.3-m) wingspan Outlaw drones by focusing its 30-kW Accelerated Laser Demonstration Initiative (ALADIN) laser at their stern control surfaces until they burned off, sending them crashing into the desert floor.
26 million is the camel's nose.
For reference look at the F-35.
The development of the Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth-generation stealth jet, has been beset by spiraling costs and schedule delays. The program's price tag is nearly $400 billion for 2,457 planes -- almost twice the initial estimate.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Lockheed made the SR-71, U-2, F-117, P-38, C-69 and C-130. All were innovative aircraft that were considered excellent at what they did. They also made the P-80, F-104, P-80, C-141 and C-5 and the L-1011 which were all around good aircraft. Lockheed knows how to make aircraft.
While Lockheed certainly shoulders blame for the turd that is the F-35, the biggest cause is the design by committee approach trying to service the needs of all the service branches (Air Force, Marines, Navy) as well as the international market. Kelly Johnson is surely spinning in his grave. Every time this has been tried in the past it was a complete disaster. The F-111 being the prime example... good plane but development was a complete boondoggle and it never lived up to initial requirements or expectations. The thought this time was that technology would allow them to overcome past problems (which was the same thought with the F-111) but if you put the aircraft the F-35 is meant to replace side by side you're going to see just how insane this is:
The biggest dichotomy is the Harrier vs the Strike Eagle. The AV-8B is small and lightweight to allow for VTOL, the F-15E is a bomb truck whose dry weight is more than the AV-8B's fully loaded rolling take off weight. You just can't have a VTOL aircraft that is stealthy and has a decent bomb load out. You either have a massive internal bomb bay, which pretty much rules out VTOL or you have external stores which rules out stealth. It was doomed before it ever started.