A revolutionary laser weapon designed to shoot down incoming cruise missiles, artillery projectiles or surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), is being tested by Boeing Rocketdyne. The airborne tactical laser (ATL) is a scaled-down derivative of the airborne laser (ABL) system currently under development by the US Air Force (USAF). The ATL could be mounted aboard various platforms, including V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and CH-47 Chinook helicopters, said company officials.
Like the ABL, which requires a Boeing 747-400F aircraft to carry a laser strong enough to shoot down theatre ballistic missiles in boost phase, the ATL uses a chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL). However, instead of pumping exhaust gas from the COIL out of the aircraft as the ABL is designed to do, the ATL collects the exhaust with a sealed exhaust system. "The sealed exhaust system keeps the size and the weight down," said Beck
The ATL can fit into Ospreys and Chinooks without altering them, according to Don Slater, Boeing Rocketdyne systems engineer for the ATL project.
With modifications, it could also be carried aboard a wide range of other platforms, such as US Navy (USN) P-3 maritime patrol aircraft and USAF C-130 transports. The ATL could also be installed aboard US Army wheeled or tracked vehicles, Slater said.
"It would be more effective aboard an airborne platform," he said, noting that aircraft have more mobility and are harder to hide from.
The primary mission of the ATL would be to defend against cruise missiles, but it could also intercept incoming artillery shells of up to 300mm, Slater said. In addition, ATLs could accompany strike aircraft and knock out SAM sites, at a maximum range of about 25km, he said.
source: Jane's Defense Weekly Vol. 031, Issue: 010
The Advanced Tactical Laser can place a 10-centimeter-wide beam with the heating power of a blowtorch on distant targets for up to 100 shots. The Advanced Tactical Laser can produce a four-inch-diameter beam of energy that can slice through metal from a distance of 9 miles.
Operated from a ground, sea or airborne platform, ATL offers the ability to place a precisely calibrated energy pulse on a target from either close in or from a standoff distance of several miles.
The ATL includes a laser, optics and control systems enabling fire control systems on fixed and rotary-wing aircraft to precisely direct laser fire on targets from 15 kilometers away. The outermost cruise missile engagements occur at 20 km, where laser dwell times of five seconds are required for each kill. At shorter ranges, the dwell times are reduced. One target is destroyed for each dwell period, and a few seconds are allocated for re-targeting between shots.
The ATL is not subject to direct attack by small arms or shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles. In fact, it can be far enough away that its action is almost covert. The laser beam makes no sound and is not visible. The effect of the beam may not be easily associated with a presence of an aircraft several miles away!
An ATL will generally operate below most of the clouds. For missile defense, the ATL works best at altitudes around 10,000 feet. But it can operate down to about 2,500 feet; below that, the operational range becomes too short to be useful. Baseline ATL design achieves > 20 km kill range 50 percent of the time. In the Arabian Gulf location, for 10 percent of the time the range will exceed 24 km, and at 10 percent of the time it will be less than 16 km. In the Korean coastal climate, the variation is greater. The "best" 10 percent of the time the range exceeds 30 km, but the worst 10 percent limits the range to less than 8 km.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2173968.phpNowadays alot of lasers coming from US...When LASER RIFLE coming? Then we can all star wars
