An Israeli firm has developed Light Blade
一家以色列公司开发了防空武器“光剑”（Light Blade）

March 29, 2020: An Israeli firm has developed Light Blade, an air defense weapon designed to detect and shoot down the balloons and kites Hamas has been using from Gaza to transport incendiaries or small explosives into southern Israel. These devices cause more psychological than physical damage but the Israelis threatened are voters, and the devices do cause casualties or, more often, property damage and brush fires. The thousands of rocket, mortar and now kite and balloon attacks from Gaza over the last fifteen years has created a demand for specialized weapons to deal with the menace. Light Blade is the latest cure to appear.

2020年3月29日：一家以色列公司开发了防空武器“光剑”（Light Blade），旨在侦查和击落哈马斯从加沙运货气球和风筝，将燃烧弹或小型炸药运入以色列南部。 这些设备造成的心理伤害大于身体伤害，但威胁以色列人民众，这些设备的确造成人员伤亡，或更常见的是造成财产损失和火灾。 在过去的十五年中，加沙发生了数千起火箭弹，迫击炮，风筝和气球袭击事件，这就产生了对专门武器的需求，以应对这种威胁。 “光剑”是最新出现的应对方法。

 

Another Israeli firm had already developed SupervisIR, a radar that can detect small, slow-moving, low altitude targets and pass that data on to a weapons system. When combined with Light Blade, over 90 percent of available targets were detected, tracked and destroyed by the Light Blade variable focus laser. The ability of the Light Blade laser to focus into a powerful enough beam to bring down the balloons or kites was an important breakthrough. This means the laser beam is “eye safe” if it hits anyone in a passing aircraft. The beam focuses only long enough to burn through the balloons or kites and bring them down. Light Blade can hit targets within five kilometers of the truck (pickup or hummer type) mounted laser and fire control system.

另一家以色列公司已经开发了SupervisIR，这是一种雷达，可以检测小型，缓慢移动的低空目标，并将该数据传递给武器系统。当与“光剑”（Light Blade）结合使用时，“光剑”可变焦激光器会检测，跟踪并摧毁90％以上的可找到目标。 “光剑”激光能够聚焦到足够强大的光束击落气球或风筝的能力是一项重要的突破。这意味着如果激光束击中过往飞机上的任何人，都是“眼睛安全”的。光束仅聚焦足够长的时间，以燃烧气球或风筝并将其击落。 装有“光剑”激光和火控系统的卡车（皮卡或悍马型）可以击中五公里内的目标。

 

There are several other new Israeli laser air defense systems, like Iron Beam and Drone Dome that use more powerful lasers to bring down small UAVs, mortar shells and rockets. Development of these weapons has been going on for over a decade. Earlier in 2020 an Israeli firm, Elbit, introduced Drone Dome, a breakthrough in the development of lasers that can be used to intercept mortar shells, UAVs and rockets. While testing under combat conditions won’t take place until mid-2020, the government thought that the new technology was innovative and effective enough in preliminary tests to announce.

以色列还有其他几种新的激光防空系统，例如“铁梁”（Iron Beam）和“无人机穹顶”（Drone Dome），它们使用功能更强大的激光来击落小型无人机，迫击炮弹和火箭。这些武器的开发已经进行了十多年。 2020年早些时候，以色列Elbit公司推出了“无人机穹顶”（Drone Dome），这是可用于拦截迫击炮弹，无人机和火箭的激光技术的突破。尽管要到2020年中期才能在战斗条件下进行测试，但政府认为这项新技术具有足够的创新性和有效性，可以预定初步测试。

This new weapon is also being called “Laser Dome” 
这种新武器也被称为“激光穹顶”（Laser Dome）

 

Laser systems like this have been in development elsewhere for a long time, but so far no one has been able to develop a laser with the range and destructive power to perform like the new Israeli system. This new weapon is also being called “Laser Dome” because it would complement the existing Iron Dome system that uses missiles and an innovative radar/software system that ignores ballistic, rockets or mortar shell whose trajectory would mean hitting unoccupied land where there will be no injuries or serious damage. Most objects fired at Israel end up landing in unoccupied areas and the few objects that are dangerous are intercepted by missiles. This has proved very effective.

像这样的激光系统其他地方已经开发了很长时间，但是到目前为止，没有人能够开发出具有新的以色列系统的射程和破坏力的激光器。这种新武器也被称为“激光穹顶”（Laser Dome），因为它将补充现有的使用导弹和创新的雷达/软件系统的铁穹系统，该系统会忽略炮弹，火箭或迫击炮弹，其弹道将意味着击中无人居住的土地损伤或严重损坏。向以色列发射的大多数物体最终落在空无一人的地区，少数危险物体被导弹拦截。事实证明这是非常有效的。

 

Drone Dome is described as using a solid-state electric laser at an effective range of 5,000 meters. Unlike missile-based systems, the cost of bringing down each target is several dollars’ worth of electricity. A diesel generator/capacitor system can fire once every few seconds for as long as power was available. Drone Dome combines multiple laser beams to obtain a useful amount of laser power at longer ranges. Fire control systems for quickly, accurately and repeatedly aiming a laser have already been developed. The main problem has long neem obtaining effective burn (laser bean-created heat) at longer ranges to do enough damage to bring down or destroy the incoming warhead.

“激光穹顶”被描述为在5,000米有效范围内使用固态电子激光。与基于导弹的系统不同，降低每个目标的成本是几美元的电费。只要有电，柴油发电机/电容器系统就可以每几秒钟点火一次。无人机穹顶结合了多个激光束，可以在更长的范围内获得有用的激光功率。已经开发了用于快速，准确和反复瞄准激光的火控系统。主要问题是长期以来一直需要在更长的距离内获得有效的燃烧（激光束产生的热量），进行足够的破坏以击落或摧毁即将来临的战斗部。

 

Israel believes Drone Dome has sufficient burn power but realistic tests are needed to prove it. If Laser Dome works, several individual systems could operate with each Iron Dome battery to take down targets the laser can reach rather than use the $60,000 Iron Dome missiles. Iron Dome would continue to take care of longer-range targets. This would make Iron Dome a lot cheaper to operate and more effective against mass attacks when dozens of rockets are fired at the same target in a short time.

以色列认为“无人机穹顶”具有足够的烧蚀能力，但需要进行实际测试以证明这一点。如果“激光穹顶”能够正常工作，则每个“铁穹”电池可以使用多个单独的系统来击落激光可以到达的目标，而不是使用价值60,000美元的“铁穹”导弹。“铁穹”将继续留心较远距离的目标。当在短时间内向同一目标发射数十枚火箭时，“铁穹”的操作成本将大大降低，并且能够更有效地抵抗大规模攻击。

 

Some of the tech Laser Dome concepts have already been used in other laser weapons. One of these is Iron Beam from another Israeli firm (Raphael). Iron Beam uses a single HEL (High Energy Laser) and requires more power and has a range of 7,000 meters. Another HEL example is the U.S. Army CLWS (Compact Laser Weapon System) which is currently only capable of handling UAVs. CLWS is a laser weapon light enough (2.2 tons) to mount on helicopters or hummers and can destroy small UAVs up to 2,000 meters away, while it can disable or destroy the sensors (vidcams) on a UAV up to 7,000 meters away. The CLWS fire control system will automatically track and keep the laser firing on a selected target. It can take up to 15 seconds of laser fire to bring down a UAV or destroy its camera. This is the tech that Laser Dome claims to have improved enough to destroy UAVs with one shot and at longer ranges.

一些技术性的“激光穹顶”概念已被用于其他激光武器中。其中之一是来自另一家以色列公司（Raphael）的“铁梁”（Iron Beam）。“铁梁”使用单部高能激光（HEL），需要更大的功率，射程为7,000米。另一个HEL例子是美国陆军紧凑型激光武器系统（CLWS），目前仅能处理无人机。 CLWS是一种足够轻的激光武器（2.2吨），可以安装在直升机或悍马上，可以摧毁2000米以内的小型无人机，同时可以禁用或摧毁7000米以内的无人机上的传感器（视频摄像机）。 CLWS火控系统将自动跟踪并保持对选定目标的激光发射。击落无人机或毁坏其相机最多可能需要15秒的激光照射时间。“激光穹顶”声称这项技术已经改进到足以以单发和更长的射程摧毁无人机。

 

Another American system, LaWS (Laser Weapon System) was developed for the U.S. Navy and was installed on one warship for several years and is about to be installed on several more. In 2013 the navy announced that it had developed a laser technology capable of being useful in combat. This was not a sudden development but has been going on for most of the last decade. In 2010 the navy successfully tested this new laser weapon, which is actually six solid-state lasers acting in unison, to destroy a small UAV. LaWS was not yet powerful enough to do this at the range, and power level, required to cripple the most dangerous targets; missiles and small boats. The manufacturer convinced the navy that it was just a matter of tweaking the technology to get the needed effectiveness. In 2013 another test was run, under more realistic conditions. LaWS worked, knocking down a larger UAV at a longer range. At that point, the navy said it planned to install the system in a warship within the year for even more realistic testing. Those tests took place in 2014 and were successful enough to install LaWS on at least one warship to be used to deliver warnings (at low power) while at full strength (30 kilowatts). 

另一套美国系统激光武器系统（LaWS）是为美国海军开发的，已在某艘军舰上安装了数年，并将在更多军舰上安装。 2013年，海军宣布已开发出一种可用于作战的激光技术。这不是突然的发展，而是在过去十年的大部分时间里一直在持续。海军在2010年成功地测试了这种新的激光武器，实际上是六部协作的固态激光器，可以摧毁一架小型无人机。 LsWS尚不足以在削弱最危险目标导弹和小艇所需的射程和功率水平上做到这一点。制造商说服海军，这仅仅是调整技术以获得所需有效性的问题。 2013年，在更现实的条件下进行了另一项测试。 LaWS发挥了作用，击落了较运距离的大型无人机。当时，海军表示计划在一年之内将系统安装在军舰上，以进行更实际的测试。这些测试于2014年进行，并且非常成功，足以将LaWS安装在至少一艘军舰上，用于在全功率（30千瓦）状态同时发出警告（在低功率）。

 

The LaWS laser cannon was mounted on a KINETO Tracking Mount, which is similar, but larger (and more accurate), than the mount used by the Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapons System). The navy laser weapon tests used the radar and tracking system of the CIWS. Back in 2009 CIWS was upgraded so that its sensors could detect speedboats, small aircraft, and naval mines. This was crucial because knocking down UAVs is not something that the navy needs help with. But the ability to do enough damage to disable boats or missiles that are over two kilometers distant meant the LaWS was worth mounting on a warship.

LaWS激光炮安装在KINETO跟踪支架上，该支架与近距离武器系统（Phalanx CIWS）所使用的支架相似但更大（更精确）。海军激光武器测试使用了CIWS的雷达和跟踪系统。早在2009年，CIWS就进行了升级，使其传感器可以探测快艇，小型飞机和水雷。这很关键，因为击落无人机并不是海军需要帮助的。但是，能够对远距离超过两公里的船只或导弹造成足够的伤害，这意味着 LaWS值得在战舰上安装。

 

LaWS may yet prove incapable of working under combat conditions, but so far this new development has kept passing tests. These included disabling a ScanEagel UAV, destroying an RPG rocket and burning out the outboard engine of a speed boat. LaWAS also proved useful in detecting small boats or aerial objects at night and in bad weather. LaWAS worked despite mist and light sand storms, though in heaver sand storms performance was much reduced. In 2018 LaWAS was moved to a large amphibious ship for continued testing and two more LaWAS are being built, for delivery and installation on two more ships in 2020. The manufacturer continues to work on extending the range and increasing damage inflicted on targets. LaWAS uses less than a dollars’ worth of power use and is supplied by a diesel generator separate from the ship power supply. In other words, LaWAS is still a work in progress.

LaWS可能无法在战斗条件下工作，但到目前为止，这一新进展一直在持续测试。其中包括ScanEagel无人机失能，摧毁RPG火箭弹和烧毁快艇的舷外发动机。 LaWAS还被证明可在夜间和恶劣天气下推测小艇或空中物体。尽管有薄雾和沙尘暴，LaWAS仍能正常工作，但在大风沙尘暴中性能却大大降低。在2018年，LaWAS被转移到一艘大型两栖船上进行继续测试，并且正在建造另外两部LaWAS，以便在2020年再在两艘船上交付和安装。制造商继续致力于扩大射程并增加对目标造成的损害。 LaWAS消耗的电力不到一美元，由与船上电源分开的柴油发电机提供。换句话说，LaWAS仍在进行中。

 

Such was not the case with an earlier research effort using chemical lasers. In 2011 the U.S. Department of Defense halted work on the U.S. Air Force ALT (Airborne Laser Testbed). The project was put into storage until such time as more effective technology is available to revive the effort, or it is decided that the ALT is not worth the storage expense. ALT cost over $5 billion during its 16 years of development. It never worked, at least not in a practical sense. In 2010, for the second time in a row, the ALT failed in an attempt to use its laser to destroy a ballistic missile. That time, the problem was with the radar and fire control system, which failed to lock the laser onto the actual missile (although the radar did detect the actual missile launch). In the past, the main problem has been a lack of power to drive the laser to lethal levels. Because of that, the ALT program has been an expensive near-miss for nearly two decades. In 2009 ALT was demoted from a system in development to a research program. The reason for this was all about energy supply. Even if ALT worked flawlessly it did not have enough energy to hit a launching missile from a safe (from enemy fire) distance. ALT needed more than twenty times as much energy than it had and it was believed it would be a while before that problem was solved.

早期使用化学激光的研究并非如此。 2011年，美国国防部停止了美国空军机载激光试验台（ALT）的研制工作。该项目已投入封存，直到可以使用更有效的技术来恢复工作为止，或者确定ALT不值得花费封存费用。 ALT在其16年的发展中花费了超过50亿美元。它从未奏效，至少在实际意义上没有。 2010年，ALT连续第二次失败，试图使用其激光摧毁弹道导弹。那时，问题出在雷达和火控系统上，该系统无法将激光锁定在实际导弹上（尽管雷达确实检测到了实际导弹的发射）。过去，主要问题是缺乏将激光器驱动到致命水平的功率。因此，近20年来，ALT计划一直是一项代价高昂的失败。在2009年，ALT被从开发中的系统降级为研究计划。原因全在能源供应上。即使ALT完美无瑕地工作，它也没有足够的能量从安全的距离（从敌方火力）击中发射的导弹。 ALT需求现有20倍以上的能量，据信解决该问题还需要一段时间。

 

Back in 2003 developers of combat lasers were more optimistic. In 2005 manufacturers of combat lasers believed these weapons were only a few years away from battlefield use. To that end, Northrop-Grumman set up a new division to develop and build battle lasers. This optimism was generated by two successful tests in 2006. In one a solid-state laser shot down a mortar round. In another, a much more powerful chemical laser hit a missile type target. Neither of these tests led to any useable weapons, and the combat laser remains the "weapon of the future." The basic problems are reliability and ammo (power to generate the laser).

早在2003年，作战激光的开发者就更加乐观。在2005年，作战激光制造商认为这些武器距离战场使用只有几年的时间。为此，诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司（Northrop-Grumman）成立了一个新部门，以开发和制造作战激光器。这种乐观是在2006年的两次成功测试中产生的。其中一个是固态激光器击落了迫击炮弹。另外，一台功率更大的化学激光器击中了导弹类型的目标。这些测试都没有导致任何实用化武器，而作战激光仍然是“未来的武器”。基本问题是可靠性和弹药（产生激光的功率）。

 

Solid-state lasers have been around since the 1950s, and chemical lasers first appeared in the 1970s. The chemical laser has the advantage of using a chemical reaction to create the megawatt level of energy for a laser that can penetrate the body of a ballistic missile that is still rising in the air hundreds of kilometers away. The chemical reaction uses atomized liquid hydrogen peroxide and potassium hydroxide and chlorine gas to form an ionized form of oxygen known as singlet delta oxygen (SDO). This, in turn, is rapidly mixed with molecular iodine gas to form ionized iodine gas. At that point, the ionized iodine gas rapidly returns to its resting state and while doing so releases photons pulsing at the right frequency to create the laser light. These photons are channeled by mirrors and sent on their way to the target, which is being tracked and pinpointed by other lasers. The airborne laser weighs about six tons. It can be carried in a C-130H, producing a laser powerful enough to hit airborne or ground targets fifteen kilometers away. The laser exits via a targeting turret under the nose of the aircraft. The laser beam is invisible to the human eye. The chemicals are mixed at high speeds and the byproducts are harmless heat, potassium salt, water, and oxygen. A similar laser, flying in a larger aircraft (B-747 based ALT) was supposed to have enough range to knock down ballistic missiles as they took off. But the ALT never developed sufficient range to be an effective weapon.

固态激光器自1950年代就已经存在，化学激光器最早出现在1970年代。化学激光的优势在于，利用化学反应可以为激光产生兆瓦级的能量，该激光可以穿透弹道导弹的主体，而该弹道导弹仍在数百公里外的空中上升。化学反应使用雾化的液态过氧化氢，氢氧化钾和氯气形成一种离子形式的氧气，称为单重态氧（SDO）。继而将其与分子碘气体快速混合以形成离子化碘气体。在这一点上，离子化的碘气迅速返回其静止状态，同时释放出以正确频率脉冲的光子以产生激光。这些光子通过反射镜引导，并在到达目标的途中被其他激光器跟踪和精确定位。机载激光重约六吨。它可以用C-130H携带，产生的激光功率足以击中15公里外的机载或地面目标。激光通过飞机机头下方的目标转塔射出。激光束是人眼看不见的。这些化学物质高速混合，副产物是无害的热量，钾盐，水和氧气。在大型飞机（基于B-747的ALT）中机载类似激光应该具有足够的射程，可以在弹道导弹起飞时击落。但是ALT从未发展出足够的射程以成为有效武器。

 

Nearly half a century of engineering work has produced thousands of improvements, and a few breakthroughs, in making the lasers more powerful, accurate, and lethal. More efficient energy storage has made it possible to use lighter, shorter range, ground-based lasers effective against smaller targets like mortar shells and short-range rockets. Northrop's 2005 move was an indication that the company felt confident enough to gamble its own money, instead of what they get for government research contracts, to produce useful laser weapons. A larger high energy airborne laser would not only be useful against ballistic missiles, but even enemy aircraft and space satellites would be at risk. But companies like Northrop and Boeing are still trying to produce ground and airborne lasers that can successfully operate under combat conditions. The big problem with anti-missile airborne lasers has always been the power supply. A lot of chemicals are needed to generate sufficient power for a laser that can reach out for hundreds of kilometers and do sufficient damage to a ballistic missile. To be effective the airborne laser needs sufficient power to get off several shots. So far, no one has been able to produce such a weapon. Shorter range solid-state lasers need lots of electricity. This is difficult for aircraft or ground troops but not for properly equipped ships. That's why these lasers remain "the weapon of the future" and will probably remain so for a while.

近半个世纪的工程工作在使激光器更强大，更精确，更致命方面取得了数千项改进，并取得了一些突破。更有效的能量存储使使用更轻，较短射程的地面激光器成为可能，这些激光器可对迫击炮弹和短程火箭等较小目标有效。诺斯罗普（Northrop）2005年的举动表明，该公司有足够的信心赌注自己的资金，而不是从政府研究合同获得的资金来生产有用的激光武器。更大的高能机载激光不仅对弹道导弹有用，而且甚至敌机和太空卫星也将处于危险之中。但是像诺斯罗普和波音这样的公司仍在尝试生产能够在战斗条件下成功运行的地面和机载激光器。反导机载激光器的最大问题一直是电源。需要大量的化学物质才能产生足够的能量，使激光可以延伸数百公里，并对弹道导弹造成足够的损害。为了使机载激光有效，需要足够的功率来发射几发射束。到目前为止，还没有人能够生产出这种武器。短距离固态激光器需要大量的电能。对于飞机或地面部队而言，这很困难，但对于装备妥善的船只则不然。这就是为什么这些激光仍然是“未来的武器”，并且可能会保留一段时间的原因。

 

LaWS seems to be going in the same direction as Laser Dome with similar but less effective tech. The Israeli laser system is light enough to be mounted in warplanes or large UAVs. Hopes are once more high that Laser Dome will prove that the long-awaited future tech has finally arrived. Believe it when you see it.

LaWS似乎朝着与Laser Dome方向相同的方向发展，但技术却类似但效果不佳。以色列的激光系统足够轻，可以安装在战机或大型无人机中。人们对Laser Dome再次证明期待已久的未来技术终于到来的希望越来越高。相信它，当您看到它。