Guns and missiles may be a better option against larger, harder targets, and there are times when the environmental conditions are less than optimal for lasers.
“Exquisite beam control is important,” said DeYoung. When the firing platform is a moving, pitching and rolling ship, the problem is relative. “You’re shooting from one moving target to another.”
The Ponce deployment is more than a science project, it’s helping develop policy, rules of engagement, and concepts of operations. “I don’t see lasers taking the place of kinetic weapons on ships, but the Ponce deployment gives me a lot of hope that there is a possibility of transition for operational lasers on surface combatants,” said Hixson.
Beam control
“Boeing doesn’t make a laser; we’re making laser weapon systems,” said David DeYoung, director, Boeing Laser & Electro-Optical Systems (LEOS). “There’s the ability to point at and accurately track the target, and when and how long to shoot, as well as power and thermal considerations. We look at the laser itself as a commodity.”
Boeing designed the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) to counter rockets, artillery and mortars and unmanned aerial vehicles with speed of light, pinpoint precision. Boeing photo
Boeing built the U.S. Army’s High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) and the Boeing Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS). On both platforms, Boeing integrated a commercially available laser.
The systems use similar optics for acquisition, tracking, pointing, and beam control. “You are looking through that same scope to do most of those functions,” said DeYoung. Boeing beam control systems hold a laser on a dime-size aimpoint on a target long enough to disable the target.”
“Exquisite beam control is important,” said DeYoung. When the firing platform is a moving, pitching, and rolling ship, the problem is relative. “You’re shooting from one moving target to another.”
And, crews must deal with “predictive avoidance.” Because the beam of light can continue for a great distance, you want to make sure the laser isn’t going to hit something behind the actual target.
The systems provide better high-resolution imagery than what existing shipboard EO/IR sensors provide now. With upgraded optics, a system like CLWS can bring targets as close as 1 kilometer or as far as 37 kilometers into clear focus. “The system enhances intelligence missions without engaging targets,” said DeYoung.