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No link yet, but I just got a note that the Navy Labs have made a major advance in their free-electron laser (FEL) weapons research.
The bottom line is that they've developed an improved injector that takes the FEL's output into the megawatt class, about the same level as the chemical lasers on the USAF Airborn Laser but much smaller. Power just goes up from here. This fits right into the USN's electric ship plans.
The first leg was the upgrading of new supercarriers to use electromagnetic catapults for aircraft launches. Legacy carriers use steam catapults. Electric catapults will allow better tuning of the impulse and a wider range of airframes to be launched, including recon drones and robotic fighter & bombers.
Leg two got a big head start with the 33 megajoule rail gun shot late last year. Rail guns would replace conventional cannons & be able to attack targets out to 250 miles.
The third leg, FEL, will give ships a speed of light weapon to use against incoming aircraft & missiles, at the least.
The fourth leg will be high-power microwave (HPM) directed energy weapons which, would be used to the attack electronics in aircraft & missiles, again at the least. Big advances have been made here as well in the form of re-purposing phased array radars (Aegis, F-22, F-35) for use as HPM weapons. Ouch.
Supporting all this are a new generation of reactors on carriers and major changes in power generation for other ships - including a megawatt class superconducting generator the size of a trash can.
The bottom line is that they've developed an improved injector that takes the FEL's output into the megawatt class, about the same level as the chemical lasers on the USAF Airborn Laser but much smaller. Power just goes up from here. This fits right into the USN's electric ship plans.
The first leg was the upgrading of new supercarriers to use electromagnetic catapults for aircraft launches. Legacy carriers use steam catapults. Electric catapults will allow better tuning of the impulse and a wider range of airframes to be launched, including recon drones and robotic fighter & bombers.
Leg two got a big head start with the 33 megajoule rail gun shot late last year. Rail guns would replace conventional cannons & be able to attack targets out to 250 miles.
The third leg, FEL, will give ships a speed of light weapon to use against incoming aircraft & missiles, at the least.
The fourth leg will be high-power microwave (HPM) directed energy weapons which, would be used to the attack electronics in aircraft & missiles, again at the least. Big advances have been made here as well in the form of re-purposing phased array radars (Aegis, F-22, F-35) for use as HPM weapons. Ouch.
Supporting all this are a new generation of reactors on carriers and major changes in power generation for other ships - including a megawatt class superconducting generator the size of a trash can.