The U.S. Air Force Expects To Equip F-15 Fighter Jets With Laser Weapons By 2020

For science fiction aficionados, a laser-firing starship or jet fighter is but another day at the office. Literally thousands of books and films feature this futuristic tech as a facet of its battlefields, but would you ever expect the likes of the United States Air Force to include it in its arsenal? Well just this week, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced it’s developing a working laser weapon that it plans on strapping to an F-15 by as soon as 2020. Less science fiction and more science fact, armed forces may soon see a monumental shift in the way they engage in warfare in just five short years. While arming an F-15 fighter jet with a laser weapon is as revolutionary as anything coming out of the military lately, the capability of using such a technology isn’t entirely unheard of. As far back as 2002, the Air Force strapped a prototype attack laser to a 747-400 freighter aircraft (dubbed the YAL-1) after decades of development and ground testing. By 2007, the YAL-1 successfully fired a low-powered laser at an airborne object, then intercepted a test target in 2010 utilizing a high-powered laser. The thing is, it’s much easier to equip a large aircraft with a laser weapon than to strap one onto a wee little fighter jet. According to AFRL chief engineer Kelly Hammett, the primary hurdle lies with developing a laser small, accurate, and powerful enough for a jet while avoiding the g-force and vibration interference caused by supersonic speeds. Furthermore, Hammett believes this obstacle is but a temporary hindrance, going so far as to say the problem will be solved within five years.   Digital Trends