Friday December 13^th

ArsTechnica.com released an article by Stephen Clark titled: “The US military is now talking openly about going on the attack in space”

The article covers a key shift in how the US is talking about space based on some of the posture taken by China and Russia as stated in the article:

“One reason for the change in how the military talks about warfare in space is that the nation’s top two strategic adversaries—China and Russia—are already testing capabilities that could destroy or disable a US military satellite.”

As the United States Space Force celebrates its 5^th birthday, the services relevance is now perhaps greater than ever. US interests in space includes a wide range of capabilities in support of: intelligence data, navigation, communications, supporting missile defense and in the future weapons targeting support and battle management.

The article discusses three main categories of space weapons that might be used:

1.Electronic or Cyber – such as hacking a satellite or its ground-based support network.

2.Directed Energy – laser beams that can blind or dazzle satellite sensors in orbit.

3.Kinetic weapons able to blow satellites out of the sky – commonly called antisatellite weapons (ASATS).

Article Image: Space Operations Command’s first official painting, titled “High Ground Intercept,” commissioned with artist Rick Herter. The painting illustrates a US military spaceplane intercepting an adversary’s satellite, which in turn is positioning to disable a friendly satellite.

Sunday December 15^th

We can’t cover this week in laser news without touching on the drone sightings in NJ and how it’s causing quite a stir in national news.

This week, MidJerseyNews published an article titled: “STOP Pointing Lasers at Aircraft!”

Here’s the article’s opening lines:

“Several radio reports have been received over the past few nights that some people have been pointing lasers at aircraft throughout New Jersey”

Unfortunately, this seems to highlight the ease with which drones and piloted aircraft can become confused. In some respects, the article’s main picture says it all. Pointing a laser at a flying platform of any kind can be really risky and unsafe. As the picture shows, lasers pointed at human eyeballs (or even cameras) can cause flash blindness preventing the eyeball (or sensor) from being able to “see”. The image appears to highlight the most dramatic moments that a laser could affect an aircrew… the moment it is on final approach for landing.

At SemQuest, we use lasers from time to time in our work and would like to highlight the importance of laser safety. Please, DON’T point lasers at things in the sky. It could put people in great danger. According to the article, it can result in a fine of $250,000 and five years’ imprisonment.

For more information, the article provided links to some videos from the FAA: Lose the Laser , Lose the Laser, Laser Strikes on Aircraft at an All Time High

Article Image – the alarming results of a laser shining into an aircraft cockpit. This results in flash blindness for the aircrew.

Monday December 16^th 

Special thanks to Benjamin Johnson for posting about this article on LinkedIn

Aviation Week Network’s Robert Wall released an article titled: “The Debrief: Iron Beam May Silence Air Raid Sirens”

The article provides quite a bit of insight discussing Ukraine’s recently established “Drone Systems Unit”.

The article covers how the 100 kW-class laser system will be integrated into the Iron Dome potentially near the border.  It is expected that the integration of Iron Beam will reduce the stress of constant attacks and improve the quality of life for Israeli citizens.

Israel has made a large investment in this capability provided by Rafael and Elbit to the tune of $540M to expand the production capability.

Article Picture – The early intercept and debris damage mitigation the Iron Beam promises could also allow Israel to reduce the number of times it sets off air raid alarms (credit: Rafael)

Tuesday December 17^th 

Defense Express’ Svetlana Shcherbak released an article titled: “Ukrainian Tryzub Combat Laser Hits Aircraft at 2 km Range”

The article provides quite a bit of insight discussing Ukraine’s recently established “Drone Systems Unit”.

The article includes a quote from the unit commander, Vadym Sukharevskyi:

“We can state that, as of today, Ukraine is, if I am not mistaken, the fifth country able to claim possession of a laser weapon. Currently, we can use this laser to shoot down aircraft at altitudes exceeding 2 kilometers”

This engagement range seems particularly impressive with Ukraine stating that the Tryzub has a lower power capability of 20 kW. Traditionally this has meant that that a system of that power class is limited to effective engagements to 1 km. If the claim of 2 km is true, this would mean that the Ukraine has made significant advancements in the system’s ability to preserve beam quality and tracking out to further ranges. To make the claims even more impressive, all of this has been achieved with targets moving at speeds up to 200 km/h (124 mph)

Article Picture – An AI-generated image of a conceptual combat laser.