China's Laser Development

I. China's Laser Weapons

Laser weapons are the most likely of all new conceptual weapons to be used in actual combat, and they will play a pivotal role in future wars! At present, the world's highest level of China, the United States and Russia. China in the early sixties when it began to focus on the research, but unfortunately from the seventies to the mid-eighties of the period of time shelved, from this up to now has made great progress! It is difficult to know how far the research on this type of weapon has progressed because it is highly classified by the state. 1965, the Southwest Institute of Technology and Physics made an aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser crystal, and the following year a YAG laser was made, and in 1972 a high repetition frequency tuned QYAG laser was successfully developed. Semiconductor lasers for military fiber optic communications also began to be developed in the mid-1960s, and within 20 years China developed C02 lasers, argon ion lasers, ring lasers, frequency-stabilized lasers, far-infrared lasers, etc., and in the mid-1970s, mass production began to be used in the Army weapons ranging, ballistic measurements, man-made satellites? Star ranging, atmospheric laser communication, fiber optic communication, naval weapon ranging, land and air force weapon guidance system, etc. In 1974, Wang Dahang led a delegation to visit the United States and Canada to introduce the mainland China's domestic strong laser device has hit the neutron, impressive, Canadian experts said that the two countries have been at the same level. 1986 on the Institute of Optical Sciences to build the peak gangrene power of more than 1012 watts of intense pulsed laser test device, Zhang Aiping, Admiral General named it the "strong pulse laser". Admiral Zhang Aiping named it "Shenguang", which made China become a country with the same kind of equipment after the United States, the Soviet Union, France and Japan. China's new generation of ultra-short and ultra-intense laser device at the flying limit was successfully developed by Shanghai Institute of Optical Machines in 1996 and passed the acceptance test, marking that China's intense laser technology has stepped on a new level. China will have more progress in the field of strong laser weapons after 2000, and the initial production capacity, China may then be able to threaten the mainland near-shore activities of the U.S. "goddess of dawn" ultra-high-speed strategic reconnaissance aircraft.

The Chinese Air Force's CYAL-1A airborne laser weapon system

Based on the latest doctrines for developing and refining armed forces, China's Ministry of Defense (MoD) is now placing more and more emphasis on developing and equipping new concepts of weaponry. The most notable of these is the High Power Airborne Laser Weapon System (HPALS). The project is now under the overall leadership of China's Air Ministry, with the Anti-Missile Defense Agency (AMDA) and companies such as 601, 603, and chengdu directly involved in its development, as well as companies hoping to win orders from the military.

603 is responsible for developing the overall program for building the airborne laser weapon, as well as developing the combat command system and a series of other related airborne systems, installing the laser weapon components, modifying the transportation platform (transport aircraft) to meet the military's needs, and integrating the various subsystems. One of the most important of these components is the firing control system.601 It is responsible for the development of suitable optics, the beam control system, a range of active and passive optoelectronic detection and target tracking systems, and the guidance devices that will accurately direct the intense laser beam to the target.xxx It is primarily responsible for the development of the megawatt-class mass-produced oxygen-iodine chemically pulsed laser emitters.xxx The company will also be responsible for the development of the laser weapon's command and control system and a range of other related airborne systems. In addition to this, the company will also host the construction of a ground support system for the powerful laser. In order to implement the construction program of the airborne laser weapon system, the Chinese military will organize a series of scientific research and experimental design work, laboratory and outdoor testing of the optoelectronic system, as well as the development of a system program for the automated control of the laser weapon. According to Chinese experts, the airborne laser weapon system must be capable of autonomously detecting, identifying and destroying incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and warplanes of all types within 400 kilometers. According to the plans of the Chinese Air Force Command, the laser-weapons-equipped aircraft will be used primarily for patrol missions in safe areas up to 100 kilometers away from the front line, with their positions moving closer to the front line after air control is seized. The Chinese Air Force calculates that it would need to equip at least five new aircraft equipped with airborne laser weapon systems to ensure 24-hour patrols in missile-threatened areas and uninterrupted surveillance of the enemy. China is now aiming to form a squadron of seven such aircraft in 2009. In peacetime, these laser-equipped aircraft will be deployed at bases on Chinese soil, and will be kept on 24-hour alert in order to be ready to travel to combat zones to carry out strike missions. In order to ensure the operational effectiveness of the airborne laser weapon system, these standing bases will be stocked with sufficient aviation fuel and the chemical reagents needed to generate a strong laser beam. It is believed that during redeployment, each combat aircraft may carry up to 20 tons of chemical reagents. Other safeguard materials will be transported to the temporary base by military transport planes. Each airborne laser weapon system consists of a Boeing Y8-600F converted to a large fixed-wing aircraft, a 14-part infrared-band laser generator, a combat command system, a firing control system consisting of a variety of active and passive electro-optical detection and tracking equipment, as well as a guidance system and some security equipment. The modified Y8-600F is equipped with four CF6-80C2B1F engines or RB 211-524 G(H) engines. Its cruise time after a single ground refueling is about 6 hours. To maintain the required combat effectiveness, two combat aircraft will be deployed in the same patrol area. In addition to the Y8-600F mentioned above, China has also developed an airborne platform codenamed YAL-1A. Compared to the Y8, the YAL-1A has increased wing length and a reinforced cargo bay door. Equipped with a laser weapon system, the new aircraft also has a very special shape - the nose fairing has been designed in a spherical shape, and a launcher is mounted underneath it. According to the Chinese Air Force, the lens installed on the YAL-1A for aiming and focusing reaches a diameter of 1.5 meters.

Three, the emergence of laser weapons on our military equipment:

1, laser weapons will be used in large quantities on various types of combat platforms to seize the high ground of attack in this field of combat.

2, information warfare will be raised to an unprecedented degree of importance. Laser weapons have no advance extremely high-speed attack capability, with the discovery of the target that is equal to the ability to hit the target, once discovered, the target simply can not use their own mobility to get rid of the laser weapons attack. Therefore, on the one hand, we are required to have the excellent reconnaissance capability of the first enemy to find, on the other hand, their own military equipment is not found by the enemy, around this point, our task is:

A, the establishment of a strong CI4 system capability and have the ability to maintain this capability in the enemy's interference, destruction;

B, with the ability to interfere with the enemy's CI4 system, electromagnetic weapons, microwave weapons, the status will be greatly enhanced.

B, with the ability to jam and destroy the enemy's CI4 system, electromagnetic weapons and microwave weapons will be greatly enhanced;

C, vigorously strengthen their military equipment to fully invisible;

3, the use of new materials is important, countries will desperately research materials to resist high temperatures, and will be used in military equipment.

4, in the same CI4 system capabilities, traditional offensive weapons, especially the power of the missile will be greatly reduced, the speed of the missile compared with the laser is too slow, its infrared characteristics are too obvious, easy for the enemy's laser weapons to destroy, close range, on the horizon (from the weapons perspective) to play a role in striking the point of the target of the missile will be replaced by the laser, missiles, the value of the existence of the missile is A, to the super horizon of the target role; B, to the non-horizon The value of the missile is A, to act on targets beyond the horizon; and B, to act on non-point targets (targets with relatively vast surfaces and bodies). But missiles must do so without being detected by the enemy. Electromagnetic gun compared to the missile is very fast, up to 30 ~ 50 kilometers per second, is the fastest existing missile speed of 10 kilometers per second 3 ~ 5 times, the enemy's reaction speed is greatly reduced, and electromagnetic warhead is very small, the launch of the infrared characteristics are not obvious, so the stealth capability greatly exceeds the ballistic missiles, once the electromagnetic gun technology is mature, will immediately take the place of ballistic missiles.

---- According to the foreign news agency quoted Beijing sources pointed out,----

The PLA has recently launched a new electromagnetic cannon. p>

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently successfully used laser weapons to intercept incoming low-altitude cruise missiles in the western region. This laser defense technology will most likely be an integral part of China's development of its own missile defense system (TMD). The source also noted that the laser experiments were conducted on the Qinghai and Tibetan plateaus, and that the successful use of the technology demonstrates the mainland's current ability to use the weapon to intercept low-altitude cruise missiles. While past anti-missile systems usually used surface-to-air missiles to shoot down attacking missiles in the air, the laser system uses lasers to destroy the missile's guidance system, causing the missile to fall to the ground without causing damage. The laser weapon test is a breakthrough achievement made by decades of unremitting efforts of the majority of China's defense researchers, in the test process, the maximum instantaneous power of the laser generator reached an astonishing XXXXX.XX megawatts, sustained power also XXXX.XX megawatts, the continuous irradiation time of the beam reached XXXX seconds, the target tracking, the accuracy of the tuning device has also fully met the test design Requirements, only X seconds will be captured in thousands of kilometers away from the target area of the flight of the missile, irradiation 0.X seconds after the direct detonation, the test results are exciting!