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  • Airborne laser?

    Does anyone know anything about the YAL-1 Airborne laser. I've heard its a B747 designed to destroy missiles or something.

  • #2
    The Laser ? He Wants To Know About The Freakin' Lazer. At This Very Moment We Are Still Attempting To Attach Them To Ill Tempered Sea Bass ! Woohahahahahahahahah ! Woooooohahahahahahahahaha !
    "Now we shall have ourselves a pell mell battle!" ......The Immortal Memory, Admiral Nelson

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    • #3
      Lol, mmmmm, Sea Bass....
      "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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      • #4
        Good job Hawg.

        Now we gotta kill the poor kid for knowing too much.

        Sorry Hello.....lol. ;)

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        • #5
          Originally posted by hello
          Does anyone know anything about the YAL-1 Airborne laser. I've heard its a B747 designed to destroy missiles or something.
          I heard that it was goin to be able to shoot down icbms but isnt there a new russian icbm thats goin to be able to evade these things.

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          • #6
            Dude, ICBM's go at >Mach 15. It'll take that thing the whole state of Utah just to make a single turn.
            Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

            Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by bigross86
              Dude, ICBM's go at >Mach 15. It'll take that thing the whole state of Utah just to make a single turn.
              http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/...abl/flash.html

              Here's Boeing's public link describing the ABL system. It has a mobile turret at the front which can very quickly aim the laser in the direction of a missile anywhere in the aircraft's frontal hemisphere. Testing is still underway, but so far, test fires of the laser are proving that no fundamental design flaws exist. Whether or not the system ever meets it's goals, it will be a huge leap forward on focused extreme high energy laser technology. The fire control system is likewise very complex. As you can imagine, trying to point anything directly at something moving at the speeds of an ICBM is quite a complex task. I think it can be done, but we'll see.

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              • #8
                It's actually much easier than one would think.

                A laser is so fast(186,000 miles/sec) that no lead in computing whatsoever needs to be figured into the target solution.

                That greatly simplifies matters.

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                • #9
                  Sure, a laser travels at the speed of light. No missile can outrun that.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by jgetti
                    http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/...abl/flash.html

                    Here's Boeing's public link describing the ABL system. It has a mobile turret at the front which can very quickly aim the laser in the direction of a missile anywhere in the aircraft's frontal hemisphere. Testing is still underway, but so far, test fires of the laser are proving that no fundamental design flaws exist. Whether or not the system ever meets it's goals, it will be a huge leap forward on focused extreme high energy laser technology. The fire control system is likewise very complex. As you can imagine, trying to point anything directly at something moving at the speeds of an ICBM is quite a complex task. I think it can be done, but we'll see.
                    I would agree that it is quite HARD but POSSIBLE. The closer the target the easier it makes to kill it. With distance a more complicated adjustments would be required. The difficulty is here due to the fact that lazer is efficient only when pointed straight to the target....

                    but the with distance the observation bias happens due to relativity theory application (and MBRs would be starting thousand miles away). When you observe something at large distance then you record something at a point where it was some time ago (this time is how fast you get your signal back). At small distances it does not really mater but with large distances it brings significant bias. Add that this bias increases if target is moving fast in unpredictable manner.... So when targeting a lazer at large distances you need to assume where the target is actually is at the time you are aiming it. Resembles hunting with old powerder rifles - you need to shoot in advance guessing where the target is moving.

                    Alternativelly you may try to make you lazer so powerfull that you don't really need to pinpoint it to the target.... then pointing close to it would be enought to destroy it.

                    That the problems that I see now. But ofcause there must be some solution for that....

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Garry
                      I would agree that it is quite HARD but POSSIBLE. The closer the target the easier it makes to kill it. With distance a more complicated adjustments would be required. The difficulty is here due to the fact that lazer is efficient only when pointed straight to the target....

                      but the with distance the observation bias happens due to relativity theory application (and MBRs would be starting thousand miles away). When you observe something at large distance then you record something at a point where it was some time ago (this time is how fast you get your signal back). At small distances it does not really mater but with large distances it brings significant bias. Add that this bias increases if target is moving fast in unpredictable manner.... So when targeting a lazer at large distances you need to assume where the target is actually is at the time you are aiming it. Resembles hunting with old powerder rifles - you need to shoot in advance guessing where the target is moving.

                      Alternativelly you may try to make you lazer so powerfull that you don't really need to pinpoint it to the target.... then pointing close to it would be enought to destroy it.

                      That the problems that I see now. But ofcause there must be some solution for that....

                      One of the largest issues encountered thus far is diffraction that occurs as the laser beam passes through the atmosphere. Since the atmosphere is not a uniform medium, diffraction will be different based upon the atmospheric conditions between the point of laser initiation and the target. That's where it really gets tricky.

                      No laser has ever been developed which can focus enough energy on a target the size of an ICBM to destroy it (render it impotent) at the theater ranges this thing is being designed for. There are 2 reasons a modified 747 is being used as the platform for ABL. First, it's one of the only aircraft with the weight and volume capacity necessary to carry all the chemicals and hardware necessary to produce such a powerful beam. Second, it is one of the only aircraft that can supply the power requirements of the ABL system and still have enough thrust to stay aloft.

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                      • #12
                        Surely the ABL has its own generator?

                        Anyway; I imagine the adaptive optics system on the ABL is quite good. As far as I know, there are at least 2 lasers involved; a guide laser that acts like a 'laser guide star' to give the AO system information about the intermediary atmoshpere, and the kill laser. I dont think the kill laser has yet got to the power at which it can kill a warhead at a useful range, but I might be wrong. This is a terminal-phase weapon isnt it? Warheads are uranium? So a difficult thing to destroy the warhead as such.

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                        • #13
                          The ABL is a boost-phase defense system. It's designed to explode liquid fueled missiles by detonating the fuel, or damage solid fueled missiles by causing airframe failure (crumpling due to aerodynamic forces).

                          It uses three laser systems, a multiple-beam tracking laser for ranging and initial atmospheric data, an illuminating laser for the beam control system, and the COIL laser for the kill.
                          "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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                          • #14
                            Hmmm, much easier in boost phase. That surely also requires access to an airfield somewhere vaguely near NK as well, unless you have tens of ABLs? What is the effective range?

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                            • #15
                              Range is classified. It's a "megawatt-class" laser- how many megawatts is not public information. The plan is to build a small fleet of them though. They can be refueled in flight, so airfields are not such a problem.
                              "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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