Combat aircraft

There is another possibility if F-X

doesn’t work out. The flying branch could

incorporate SHiELD into the F-35A and

F-35C, the USAF and US Navy versions of

the JSF respectively, placing the weapon

inside the fuselage behind the cockpit

in the location shared by the lift fan on

F-35Bs flown by the US Marines. If so, an

F-35A could fly with twin laser turrets

poking out from the top and bottom of

the aircraft, adding a defensive weapon

with near 360-degree coverage, although

potentially reducing stealthiness in

the process.

Either way, one of the F-35’s biggest

shortcomings, a bulky airframe design

that sacrifices some maneuverability

because of the need to accommodate

the B-version’s fan, makes the aircraft well

suited to adopting a laser weapon later

on — especially given the F-35’s complex

suite of sensors that makes the aircraft

an excellent platform for observing and

targeting. It should also be simple to

power the laser directly off the F-35’s

Pratt & Whitney F135 engine.

However, aboard any aircraft, a major

issue will be handling heat. Lasers

generate tremendous amounts of heat

that must be stored or vented, and heat

makes aircraft more visible to infra-red

sensors. To solve this problem, the Air

Force Research Laboratory is looking at

so-called thermal accumulators — such

as used in hydraulic engineering — to

preserve and store heat under pressure

and to release it when necessary.

Northrop Grumman is working on an

alternative heat-management system for

its part in the F-X project, but is quiet on

the details.

It will be years before the public sees

the culmination of these projects, but

they are promising if the USAF can find

the money. The result may be a more

modest self-defense system for the flying

branch’s vulnerable bombers, tankers

and transports, or it could transform the

nature of air-to-air combat altogether.

Above: A US

Army AH-64D

returns to the

White Sands

missile range at

the conclusion

of a High Energy

Laser test flight

on April 7, 2017.

US Army

Left: In a live-fire

demonstration

at the Army’s

White Sands

Missile Range in

New Mexico, a

30kW-class laser

weapon system

developed

by Lockheed

Martin brought

down five

unmanned

aerial vehicles.

Lockheed Martin

THE BRIEFING

http://www.combataircraft.net January 2018

26

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