Laser Weapons Dilemma Preoccupies US Air Force

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Most refueling aircraft were designed without defensive systems, but future conflicts could require tankers to move closer to the fight, necessitating the adoption of situational awareness upgrades or even more intricate systems like laser weapons.

The U.S. Air Force is on a path to adopt high-powered lasers on fighter jetsand special operations gunships, but it’s still on the fence about how to mount such weaponry on its KC-135 tanker fleet. They are trying to locate an area on the KC-135 on which it could attach a laser pod.

Increasing the survivability of tankers has been a pet project of Air Mobility Command head Gen. Carlton Everhart. Lockhart described the KC-135 integration as a parallel effort with the Air Force’s best-known laser program, the Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD, which aims to test a laser pod on an F-15 fighter by 2021.

Whether the Air Force opts to attach a podded laser to the KC-135 or integrate it within the airframe itself, the development of a podded system of for the SHiELD program will offer valuable insight about how to stabilize laser weapons and drive down their size, weight and power use.

Beyond SHiELD and the KC-135 demonstration, the service is continuing to develop a roll-on laser capability for Air Force Special Operations Command’s AC-130J gunship. A test plan is still in the works, but will likely be concurrent with the SHiELD program, according to defensenews.com.