Directed energy weapons gaining acceptance across U.S. Military.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

No longer the stuff of science fiction, laser technology is progressing rapidly. Throughout the services, officials are banking on new directed energy weapon systems, which promise to offer the military precision strike at a low cost for both defensive and offensive missions.

"There is absolutely a niche I believe for use of directed energy weapons," said Col. John Vannoy, SOCOM's program manager for rotary wing. "The lens we are looking at this through right now is: 'Is it feasible to do this?' We're not at the point where we've laid out a business case to advance it."

The command envisions using a laser weapon to destroy vehicles or generators versus sending in a missile that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said during an industry conference hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association in Tampa, Florida.

Vannoy's office and the Army's Apache office have entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with Raytheon to put a podded laser on the aircraft, he said.

"We really want to understand the environment on the wing, the beam quality we can get off the wing and the ability to beam steer and keep power on a target," he said.

Environmental factors such as dust could affect beam quality. In addition, the vibrations on an Apache's wing could affect steering, he said.

Vannoy did not disclose a specific timeframe for the test or when results would be made public.

The effort to equip an Apache with a laser is still in its infancy, he said. "I wouldn't say that we're at the tipping point and you're going to see a Star Wars-like effect or a Death Star laser hanging off the side of a rotary wing aircraft," he said.

A directed energy weapon could also be mounted on an MH-60 Black Hawk, he noted.

Mark Gunzinger, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.G-based think tank, said based on the relatively small size of a helicopter the laser would likely have between 15 and 30 kilowatts of power.

"That would pack a pretty good punch" at short ranges against a soft target, he said.

If SOCOM decides to move forward with the effort to equip a laser on a helicopter, PEO rotary wing would work closely with its fixed-wing counterparts in the command, Vannoy said.

Currently, PEO fixed wing is working to outfit an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship with a directed energy weapon.

"We communicate between the two offices daily," Vannoy said. "There will be limited redundancy. We'll be working together to advance that. But their requirement, I would expect...