Recently, a British media reported that the Royal Air Force will install laser cannons for the F-35 stealth aircraft. In the next 10 years, the UK will purchase 48 F-35 fighters. The British and US governments are allegedly investing millions of pounds to develop a green laser pointer weapon that can be installed on such a fighter. The F-35 will be the first ever to equip this future weapon.
F-35 is the ideal platform for airborne laser weapons
In 2016, the US Marine Corps announced that it would install laser weapons for almost all aircraft, including the F-35B stealth fighter with vertical lift. This time, the Western media once again claimed that the F-35 will be equipped with laser weapons. The aforementioned British media reported that the F-35 will enable pilots to quickly aim at a range of targets and launch a directed laser beam to destroy the target in seconds. According to a source, installing a laser cannon on the F-35 will make it one of the deadliest weapons ever.
Many people know that the F-35 is equipped with the F135 engine, which is the second fighter power system in the world with a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than 10. It is also the most powerful military afterburner turbofan engine in the history of human aviation. Together with its advanced design concept, it has become the best experimental platform for new concept air combat weapons.
"If the airborne laser weapon is technically feasible, the F-35 is indeed the ideal platform for the aircraft to install airborne laser weapons." Yi Fang, a researcher at the think tank, said, "The current high-energy laser weapon is an advantage in close defense. Weapons. Currently, tactical high-energy laser weapons range in size from a few hundred meters to a few kilometers, or tens of kilometers. There are data showing that US airborne laser weapons can hit ground or air targets from the air up to 20 degrees. About a kilometer. If the laser weapon can be installed on the F-35, it will greatly compensate for the shortcomings of its close combat and missile defense."
"Compared with the F-22, the F-35 has a decline in performance such as high speed, flexibility and combat radius, and high-energy laser weapons can make up for its lack of operational performance. As a joint attack with equipment cooperative combat capability system Fighter aircraft, F-35 has a strong joint combat capability, in the era of systematic combat, just to better play the operational effectiveness of high-energy laser weapons." Yi Fang said, "Furthermore, F-35 as a multi-country joint development Fighters, which have a wide international arms market and are expensive, can add more arms sales benefits if they are equipped with high-energy laser weapons."
Yi Fang said, "At present, high-energy laser weapons are in the stage of technological breakthrough to technology transformation and application, and have reached the level of practical application. At the end of the 20th century, the US Air Force proposed in the "21st Century Air and Space Force Outlook" to focus on future development. The concept of the energy-saving second-generation high-energy laser weapon should be said to have been basically realized. From the current point of view, if the US military decides to mass-produce, it should be able to scale into a military in 2020-2025, and form a practical capability."