Laser-armed fighter jets by 2020

[AndrewW]

The invention of guns took warfare to a whole new level. Later, airplanes radically changed it again. Now, experts say another big shift is coming, led by energy weapons, including lasers.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/politics/us-air-force-laser-fighter-jet-weapons-research/index.html

 

[atpollard]

I am reminded of the 'Star Wars' (SDI) Program of the 1980's when spies in the USSR sent us all sorts of false data on their 'new' weapon systems and we spent a small fortune trying to 'catch up' to a technology that never existed.

These stories leave me with a similar gut reaction ... where is the TANK version (that should be a hundred times easier to field than the Fighter version)?
Where is the push to eliminate 120mm guns in favor of these wonder lasers?

Something fails the basic smell test.
(I bet it will be powered by that Fusion Reactor that is also just around the corner ... and levitated with a Dean Drive.)

 

[Epicenter]

These stories leave me with a similar gut reaction ... where is the TANK version (that should be a hundred times easier to field than the Fighter version)?
Where is the push to eliminate 120mm guns in favor of these wonder lasers?

Not necessarily. A laser on a jet fighter might be primarily used provide interception against missiles. Particularly small AA missiles are lightweight, extremely thin-skinned (much less armor than an enemy tank or even semi-armored ATV type thing like a Mowag Pirhana), and have very sensitive (and vulnerable) sensors in the nose. Missiles are also unlikely to carry their own countermeasures against lasers, whereas on the ground laser weapon defeating technology consists of a guy with a lighter, some sort of flammable fuel, and some old car tires.

There's also less "clutter" in the air - there's clouds (and possibly smog) but nothing like the laser defeating branches, leaves, stop signs, and dust clouds and similar stuff that exist in profusion on the ground.

All of these things mean that the USAF might be able to mount a relatively lightweight laser (even less power demanding than the lasers the USN are experimenting with right now) to provide CIWS shoot-down of AA missiles to improve fighter survivability. It doesn't need to strafe the ground or even shoot down enemy fighter jets. It may not even need to shoot down enemy missiles, just mission-kill them (destroy their sensors).

Of course, that's me being reasonable and logical.

We both know the truth is that the USAF is feeling left behind by the USN fielding its first pewpew and its announcements of railguns. The wing badge mafia feels they desperately have to show they're doing sexy future stuff too.

(edited for clarity)

 

[Condottiere]

The Zumwalts are probably the best candidates, being conceptualized to actually have the necessary excess juice to power either railguns and/or lasers.

Currently trying to push the third and last one out the door, if railguns and/or lasers actually do become viable weapon systems, expect a new paradigm in naval warfare, and an arms race by the Chinese, since I doubt the Russians will be able to afford to participate.

 

[Rick]

The Zumwalts are probably the best candidates, being conceptualized to actually have the necessary excess juice to power either railguns and/or lasers.

Currently trying to push the third and last one out the door, if railguns and/or lasers actually do become viable weapon systems, expect a new paradigm in naval warfare, and an arms race by the Chinese, since I doubt the Russians will be able to afford to participate.

Not necessarily. Until someone comes up with a way to reflect the laser off something else, they are still limited to the horizon ranges; missiles are an over-the-horizon weapon. I think for the foreseeable future, lasers will be primarily a defensive anti-missile system - if they out-perform the existing CIWS/anti-missile systems then they have a future, otherwise things will really be little different from now.

 

[dragoner]

KISS, tank LoS is much shorter, even with indirect fire it might hit a wall, having a cannon, AC, being up in the air, have a farther LoS, as the Earth being a sphere, the farther from the surface, the farther one can see to the horizon.