20 MAY / JUNE 2022 popularmechanics.co.za
HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS
MILITARY TECH
/ BY KYLE MIZOKAMI /The US Air
Force is
putting death
rays on fighter
jets. Yes,
death rays
H
OW CAN OLDER FIGHTER JETS STAY ALIVE
while flying the deadly skies? With a little help
from lasers. The US Air Force is working with
Lockheed Martin on a defence system called
Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator
(SHiELD), a pod-mounted laser that will
protect fighters from incoming air-to-air and
surface-to-air missiles. The system, which the air force
wants to place on planes by the mid-2020s, will likely
initially protect older fighters that can’t take advantage of
stealth to hide from the enemy. Lockheed is also working
on a separate weapon, Tactical Airborne Laser Weapon
System (TALWS), that will use program data from SHiELD.
Today’s fighters are largely limited to passive defences
against incoming missiles. Pilots can try to take evasive
action by flying outside an incoming missile’s sensor arc,
launching flares to distract an infrared missile seeker, orLaser systems
will take up a station
on a jet normally
reserved for bombs
and missiles.