Indian Directed Energy Weapon Developments
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This video tracker unit by chess is to track uavs and boats, wonder if its related to a ship based dew unit? (they are trialling one) esp keeping in mind use of explosive boats?
maybe not that crazy like the anti artillery & mortars role one ?
maybe not that crazy like the anti artillery & mortars role one ?
2 nos. 8x8 trucks. Check photo on post #8 of this thread.
We have no info on charging time & rate of fire yet. I imagine the 2kW & 10kW systems have a decent rate of fire. A CIWS/C-RAM needs very high rate of fire.
C
For rapid target switching (CIWS) you need solid state lasers (fiber etc) which will give rapid pulsing but there are power limitations.
These chemical based lasers are powerful but you need quite a bit of logistics to make them work. The best use case is long range missile defense working with other systems that can share the load.
Chemical based lasers take time to fire as you have to flush the system and wait for reactant to reach the required levels after they are exhausted but when the threshold levels are reached it'll fire immediately and for long duration.
For rapid target switching (CIWS) you need solid state lasers (fiber etc) which will give rapid pulsing but there are power limitations.
These chemical based lasers are powerful but you need quite a bit of logistics to make them work. The best use case is long range missile defense working with other systems that can share the load.
Not particularly a fan of the multi-beam based IDDS-MK2/MK2A, the laser delivery module is unnecessarily complicated (focusing of multiple beams at a single point). The third one is more promising.
it allows redundancy. For example if we focus 6 5KW modules we get 30 KWs. If we lose 1 module then the power is reduced to 24 KW not 0 KW.
Ofc this comes with additional complexity and reduced range.
300kw is overkill for CIWS role, but also it needs big power source,
The engagement cycle Will be in seconds but target acquiring & destroying it will add couples of more second, the main issue it's gonna face Will be heat mangement,
300kw is perfect for engagement of cruise & ballistic and hypersonic Targets,
For CIWS/C-RAM roles 100kw-150kw fits the role, for targeting artillery shells, mortar rounds, drones, missiles
nah 300KW is needed for CWIS roles. Hypersonic interception cannot happen with 300KW since it needs to get past the materials specially hardened for hypersonic flight. Hypersonic needs 1MW ish for reliable interception imo.
300Kw is more than enough for cruise missiles(the ones that travel below mach 1) since theyre not using extreme materials and is enough for any drones etc.
land based systems might only use 100KW(can be made using 1 vehicle) extensively with 300KW used as mobile trucks on airbase or important areas
The navy destroyers(p15A/B and p17A/B frigates can easily handle 300KW DEWs although space needed for cooling might require some stuff on deck. They have enough power. The smaller ones that cant fit the 300KW version will use the 100KW.
the p18 is being designed ground up with IFEP so will prolly use a MW or multi MW class DEW since all rumours point it to using 2 MT30 engines which provide a flat rated 36MW which means 72MWs of available power. mordern generators have above 90% effeciency so at least 60MWe of power. More than enough to support a Multi MW class DEW especially with the size (13k tonnes) planned.
What is status of DEW for IAF?
Su-57 has DIRCM. If DEW can be compacted in dimensions of a pod then it can be included in upgraded 5.5gen jets & our indicated 6gen project.
Su-57 has DIRCM. If DEW can be compacted in dimensions of a pod then it can be included in upgraded 5.5gen jets & our indicated 6gen project.
Lasers/DEW don't work in Drone Heavy Environment, atleast not in the way they are hyped up by some people.
They are Expensive, Energy Hungry, Extremely Cumbersome, Require Very Favourable Conditions and are Easily Damaged
To reiterate these conditions need to align perfectly for a Laser to work effectively against Drones
1. Clear Sky - Smoke and Other Airborne Particulate like Water Mist/ Moisture in the Air can Scatter the Beam and Drastically Reduce its effectiveness
2. Lot's of Energy - For a Laser to do any real damage in a realistically short enough time at an acceptable range it needs to be nearly 10kW in power and getting that much energy is a tall order because the capacitors can discharge that amount of power only a few times before they need to be recharged
3. Constant Power Source - To use a Laser at its full potential you need Lots of power which requires lots of Fossil Fuel for Generators if it's a mobile system or it needs to be constantly hooked to the Grid if it's stationary either way your power source needs to be constant which severely limits it's deployment options
4. Extremely Cumbersome - Due to the power issues any realistically usable Laser would either be Relatively Cheap but Cumbersome and not very mobile
or
Very Expensive and Exotic but Relatively Mobile, both of which are not ideal from a defence Economics Perspective,
One makes Evasion from Drones very hard other makes Failure very Expensive
5. Expensive - Due to the nature of such a experimental technology Laser Systems have lots of expensive components like High Energy Capacitors, Sensitive Electronics, High Purity Lenses, High Energy Batteries which make the whole system very very expensive vis-a-vis other counter Drone technologies like EW suite or Anti Drone Guns
6. Easily Damageable - Lasers have a lot of High Precision exotic and sensitive electronics and expensive high purity lenses as such even a single Shrapnel can easily damage the System and render it inoperable.
In Summary All these reasons restrict the practical use of Lasers as the preferred choice of Anti Drone System to a very narrow range of highly specialized Environments as such DEW should not be a priority for India and Investing in DEW is a diversion of resources from simpler and cheaper air defense systems
They are Expensive, Energy Hungry, Extremely Cumbersome, Require Very Favourable Conditions and are Easily Damaged
To reiterate these conditions need to align perfectly for a Laser to work effectively against Drones
1. Clear Sky - Smoke and Other Airborne Particulate like Water Mist/ Moisture in the Air can Scatter the Beam and Drastically Reduce its effectiveness
2. Lot's of Energy - For a Laser to do any real damage in a realistically short enough time at an acceptable range it needs to be nearly 10kW in power and getting that much energy is a tall order because the capacitors can discharge that amount of power only a few times before they need to be recharged
3. Constant Power Source - To use a Laser at its full potential you need Lots of power which requires lots of Fossil Fuel for Generators if it's a mobile system or it needs to be constantly hooked to the Grid if it's stationary either way your power source needs to be constant which severely limits it's deployment options
4. Extremely Cumbersome - Due to the power issues any realistically usable Laser would either be Relatively Cheap but Cumbersome and not very mobile
or
Very Expensive and Exotic but Relatively Mobile, both of which are not ideal from a defence Economics Perspective,
One makes Evasion from Drones very hard other makes Failure very Expensive
5. Expensive - Due to the nature of such a experimental technology Laser Systems have lots of expensive components like High Energy Capacitors, Sensitive Electronics, High Purity Lenses, High Energy Batteries which make the whole system very very expensive vis-a-vis other counter Drone technologies like EW suite or Anti Drone Guns
6. Easily Damageable - Lasers have a lot of High Precision exotic and sensitive electronics and expensive high purity lenses as such even a single Shrapnel can easily damage the System and render it inoperable.
In Summary All these reasons restrict the practical use of Lasers as the preferred choice of Anti Drone System to a very narrow range of highly specialized Environments as such DEW should not be a priority for India and Investing in DEW is a diversion of resources from simpler and cheaper air defense systems
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We have very lengthy borders and All types of Climate
Surely DRDO would be knowing when and where to use Laser Weapons against Drones