will F-35 have a laser?

[Franco Lolan]

will F-35 have a laser? I think it was being developed by a British company; however, will they incorporate it or is it just on the drawing board.
The f-35 has gotten a bad rap, but won't a laser that can intercept incoming missiles make it incredibly awesome?
any details on laser, the project, f-35 etc.:

[Injecteer]

will F-35 have a laser?

would be nice, of course to see such a plane.
But the smallest airborne laser emitter I heard of needed a Boeing747 as a platform.

So, I seriously doubt, that the plane, which is under development now, would be designed for the technology of 2030

[Terran empire]

would be nice, of course to see such a plane.
But the smallest airborne laser emitter I heard of needed a Boeing747 as a platform.

So, I seriously doubt, that the plane, which is under development now, would be designed for the technology of 2030

the smallest projection i heard for the size of an ABL is that we might be able to fit it on a osprey in a decade or two

[Horrido]

There is research being conducted to eventually fit a laser to the F/A-22 and F-35, planned for around 2015. The laser on the YAL-1 is a large and very powerful chemical laser for long-range shots described as being in the "megawatt" class. The laser on the F-35 would be an electrically-powered infra-red laser of 100 kw range.

Here's a link:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992585

http://www.you.com.au/news/1275.htm

[Kozzy]

If it does incorporate a laser. It will probably be a "dazzler" that blinds the missile's seeker head.

[Franco Lolan]

that would be nice. it would make missiles lose electronics and go ballistic, correct?

[Horrido]

No, these are lasers capable of destroying other aircraft and soft-skinned vehicles.

[Franco Lolan]

nice! so they could completely waste any incoming missiles?

[The Chap]

No. There are by all accounts several varient options being considered by the USAF:
First being a modified cannon shell which will fit existing guns, mounts etc. but with (one imagines) a non-imaging "opticalbarrell" utillising a disposable cham. shell, with most prob HF/?
Next is a dedicated system integrated into the turbines via an intermediate gen. This would almost certainly involve either a free-electron or more probably "pumped" solid state laser.

Skin effects are what will do the dammage in the above cases (see other posts) :) Personally my cash is on guided shells or electromangnetically accelerated ord.

[-{SpoonmaN}-]

Honestly, I doubt that we'll be seeing any laser-armed fighters in the field for quite a while yet.

[Injecteer]

If it does incorporate a laser. It will probably be a "dazzler" that blinds the missile's seeker head.

I don't think, so...

First of all, the links posted by Horrido imform, that
- the laser is IR, which means, it's Maser
- one of the main problems is heat dissipation. (about 1 MW for 1 kW emitter, or even more, as the efficiency can be less than 10%)
- the power to supply the l/m-aser. U must have at least 1 MW generator

plus, the recoil time... U need to fill the capacitors with the energy, u need to dissipate the vast amount of heat, maybe some sort of re-calibration is also needed...

the lasers, which the existing technologies allow to build, are used only for range measurments (usually IR) and in some cases for blinding, which is not "officialy" permitted by all organizations, but who cares?

so, I'd say, that the combat laser, which could be installed on a fighter plane till 2020, is just a dummy or it has more "peacefull" application

[Terran empire]

i am with him on this my money says 2030 but by 2020 i think osprey size will be in the field

[Franco Lolan]

even if only a skin melting laser, it would make missiles go ballistic. that would negate the superiority of fighters such as su30 to the f35 most likely

[The Chap]

Apart from the unfortunate fact that the prototype is due to be tested within three years. And I do not mean the Jumbo-jet version. :)

[The Chap]

Now all of you go and find the bloody book that I mentioned elsewhere. If indeed you are interested in DEW's. Hurumph! :)