Real-life laser weapons aren’t here, yet. But they’re getting closer. Which is why the Air Force is starting to look for ways to laser-proof its bombs and missiles — with spray-on coatings, no less.
A new Air Force request for proposals asks researchers to come up with ways to find “retrofittable laser protection for weapons.” In tests, U.S. and Israeli ray guns have shown the ability to melt holes in all kinds of munitions. Several American defense contractors are working to translate those results into battlefield tools. And if they’re successful, the Air Force figures, it’s really only a matter of time before some adversary’s mad scientists figure out how to pull off the same trick.
Hence the need for “High Energy Laser (HEL)-shielding technology that can be applied to vulnerable airframe components and internal guidance electronics of [a]ir-delivered bombs and missiles.”
(find out more and watch the video …)
Popularity: 2% [?]
