US Military to Install Laser Turrets on Combat Airplanes

By Jesus Diaz on at

It was science fiction before, but now it's really happening, Young Skywalker: The US Navy and Air Force are going to install liquid-cooled, solid-state lasers in combat aeroplanes. Laser turrets designed to defend the planes by shooting incoming threats like surface-to-air missiles and rockets. Seriously. The above is an official concept image by DARPA, but integration is happening this year, with real firing tests coming in 2014.



These, though, are solid-state lasers that will be light enough to be installed in bombers and fighter jets, and will be fired to defend themselves against anti-air defences like surface-to-air missiles and rockets.



And the Hellads is not the only self-defence laser the military is playing with. Lockheed Martin and DARPA are now entering a test phase for another self-defence laser, the Aero-Adaptive/Aero-Optic Beam Control. This will be like an automatic laser turret capable of taking down missile threats from any direction. According to DARPA, they weren't previously able to make this system work because of the turbulence caused by the engine:



US Military to Install Laser Turrets on Combat Airplanes


Seriously people, I keep imagining Han Solo shouting "Great, kid! Don't get cocky!"