earlier this month, the albuquerque journal reported that the air force research laboratory at kirtland air force base in new mexico would be the site of the government’s shield (self-protect high energy laser demonstrator) program, which was created to explore small-scale laser defense systems on fighter jets.

(wikimedia commons)

according to the report, the first system should be in the air by 2021. northrop grunman was awarded a $39 million contract to develop a laser beam control system and other developers will be working on pods to power the lasers and provide thermal management for the systems.

the albuquerque journal also noted that the total cost of the program is unknown and the air force has not released the types of aircraft that the lasers would be deployed on.

reports of the air force’s desire for lasers mounted on its jets have been coming for the past year. while other branches of the armed forces see lasers as defensive weapons, according to a report on breakingdefense.com, the air force sees lasers that are “pinpoint-precise and capable of dialing energy up or down to be more or less destructive as needed.”

the report was based on a presentation by lt. general brad heithold, head of air force special operations command at last year’s directed energy summit. lasers could provide defensive capabilities such as blinding heat-seeking missiles (which current fighters are already equipped with) but also could be used to “burnt out engines” or destroy enemy planes.

the three-pronged plan from the air force research laboratory that was unveiled at the conference included a defensive system with “tens of kilowatts” of power called shield, a longer-range defensive system with 100 kilowatts of power, to be demonstrated in 2022, and a 300-kilowatt offensive system capable of destroying enemy aircraft and ground targets at long range.

according to an article from february on defensenews.com, the air force is considering lasers for the f-15, f-22, f-16, and the f-35. to address the challenge of placing lasers on smaller, fast-moving planes, the air force is using work by other group such as the u.s. army’s high energy laser mobile demonstrator (hel md).

to read more about the air force’s move toward laser systems on its fighters, read http://breakingdefense.com/2015/08/air-force-moves-aggressively-on-lasers or http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/02/20/air-force-future-lasers-fighter-jets-planes-think/80515698.