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The Defense Intelligence Agency produced this reference document, dated 31 March 2010, under its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews the state of the art and likely evolution of high-energy laser weapons, including chemical, solid-state, fiber and free-electron lasers, as well as beam control and the history of DoD laser research. It concludes that electrically powered lasers could make megawatt-class weapons practical and that spacecraft laser weapons are conceivable within 20 years. It also recommends ways to protect spacecraft from laser damage.
“Low Earth orbit”2 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'-F8A 8FFHil.l1k 'JE'lii 811L>C • Figure 17. The Advanced Tactical Laser C-130 Aircraft Laser-Material Interaction Laser radiation, with the exception of ultra-short pulse, damages materials by rapidly depositing heat on the target's surface. The field of laser effects/lethality studies this interaction at levels ranging from basic energy transfer physics to how specific military targets (such as missiles or mortar shells) could be defeated. The interaction of a laser beam with typical target materials such as metal, ceramic or fiberglass can vary significantly with parameters such as laser wavelength, irradiance level, material surface preparation and airflow. A material's hardness to laser radiation is frequently described using the parameter "W" in units of joules/cm 3 . This is a measure of the total energy (in joules) required to melt or remove one cubic cm of material under the specific conditions of the test. Over the past three decades, a wide variety of materials have been tested using a CO2, DF and (more recently) Nd :YAG lasers. Although specific results are usually classified, general observations can be offered about typical material classes used in aircraft and spacecraft. A wide variety of metals are used for applications such as missile skins, pressurized fuel tanks, electronics enclosures, and structural members. Laser coupling can vary quite widely, from a few percent to almost 100 percent, depending on the laser wavelength, type of metal, surface preparation, and temperature. If not under structural load, failure is usually from complete melt-through. If the metal piece is under aerodynamic load or is part of a pressure vessel, failure will typically occur from crack initiation and propagation well before complete burn-through. Airflow is beneficial, providing melt removal and aerodynamic loads. The total energy which would cause a metal plate or pressure vessel to fail is thickness dependent in a fairly linear fashion. 20 UNCLASSIFIED/ ii Oit Oi"i"U!lit.1! l!l&li 1iUilo¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 31 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.