Lockheed Martin announced this week that the production of the Advanced Test High Energy assets (ATHENA) Laser Weapon System was begun in Bothell, Washington facility of the company. The high-power laser weapon modules are developed as the heart of a 60-kilowatt system to be mounted to a US Army vehicle used.
The ATHENA laser can be operated by one person and consists of several fiber laser modules that knocked not only greater flexibility, but also reduces the chance of the weapon is a minor fault, are so frequent repairs required. Lockheed Martin also says that the modular structure means that the laser power can be varied over an extremely wide range to suit specific mission needs. Use of off-the-shelf commercial fiber laser components, to keep costs low, the modules can be joined together to produce laser of up to 120 kW.
ATHENA was tested in March, when it took a pickup truck with a persistent 30kW burst. Lockheed says that the laser beam combining Spectrum on which the limits of the other laser by using fiber laser modules, where the active gain medium overcomes from an optical fiber with a rare earth element such as erbium, ytterbium, neodymium, or other doped. The optical fibers are flexible, so that the laser can be thousands of feet for greater gain, while taking up very little space, because it can be wound like a rope. The large surface-to-volume ratio means that it is easy to cool. Furthermore, fiber lasers are very durable and project a high-quality beam with 50 percent less power than an equivalent solid-state lasers.
"A robust laser system with minimal operating downtime resulting from the integration of modular fiber-based lasers," says Iain McKinnie, business leadership for laser sensors and systems, Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. "With the possibility of a modular laser complete system failure due to a single-point failure is dramatically reduced. The production is also affordable because of the ease of playback module components."
Source: Lockheed Martin
The ATHENA laser can be operated by one person and consists of several fiber laser modules that knocked not only greater flexibility, but also reduces the chance of the weapon is a minor fault, are so frequent repairs required. Lockheed Martin also says that the modular structure means that the laser power can be varied over an extremely wide range to suit specific mission needs. Use of off-the-shelf commercial fiber laser components, to keep costs low, the modules can be joined together to produce laser of up to 120 kW.
ATHENA was tested in March, when it took a pickup truck with a persistent 30kW burst. Lockheed says that the laser beam combining Spectrum on which the limits of the other laser by using fiber laser modules, where the active gain medium overcomes from an optical fiber with a rare earth element such as erbium, ytterbium, neodymium, or other doped. The optical fibers are flexible, so that the laser can be thousands of feet for greater gain, while taking up very little space, because it can be wound like a rope. The large surface-to-volume ratio means that it is easy to cool. Furthermore, fiber lasers are very durable and project a high-quality beam with 50 percent less power than an equivalent solid-state lasers.
"A robust laser system with minimal operating downtime resulting from the integration of modular fiber-based lasers," says Iain McKinnie, business leadership for laser sensors and systems, Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. "With the possibility of a modular laser complete system failure due to a single-point failure is dramatically reduced. The production is also affordable because of the ease of playback module components."
Source: Lockheed Martin
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