The development of lasers powerful enough to destroy heavily armored targets like tanks has seen significant investment, with Australia spending 12.9 million Australian dollars on this endeavor.
The Australian Department of Defence has commissioned QinetiQ Australia to develop a high-energy laser capable of neutralizing armored vehicles such as tanks. QinetiQ Australia, a global leader in high-power laser research and development, is at the forefront of this technology. Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro AC highlighted that this 12.9 million Australian dollar partnership exemplifies how Australia's Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) rapidly translates science and technology into military capability.
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According to Professor Monro, "DSTG collaborates with industry to develop cutting-edge and competitive Australian sovereign capabilities for our Defence Forces in critical technology areas." She added, "The capability to produce high-energy lasers is an example of how we can work with industry to support emerging and disruptive technologies."
This is a challenging endeavor because the most powerful high-energy laser weapons currently available can only effectively destroy relatively fragile targets like unmanned aerial vehicles and other unarmored aerial targets such as mortars or rockets. A tank, particularly a front-line main battle tank, is a vastly different beast. Tanks are typically covered in several inches or more of armor on much of their hulls and turrets, designed to withstand high-velocity large metal projectiles. This doesn’t even consider more sophisticated armors like explosive reactive or composite armor.
Creating a laser capable of cutting through such metal would require an incredibly powerful laser. As Popular Science points out, lasers also need various additional tools, such as cameras and tracking systems, to keep the focused light beam on the target long enough to inflict the desired damage.
A future project involves creating a directed energy weapon system that can be mounted on protected and armored vehicles of the Australian Defence Force and is effective against armored vehicles up to and including main battle tanks. The country’s future defense policy suggests that the ultimate use of directed energy weapons could increase the adaptability of ground forces by reducing their dependence on ammunition supplies and supply lines.
The key to using lasers to cut tank armor is ensuring the light beam is sufficiently powerful and sustained long enough to reach and affect the target. "[Laser weapons] face the challenge of the power needed to neutralize practical targets like missiles. Hundreds of kilowatts or perhaps even megawatts of power are required to destroy such large objects," noted Sean O’Byrne, a professor of engineering at UNSW Canberra and UNSW Sydney. In a discussion on the promises and dangers of anti-tank lasers, he emphasized that these devices are only about 20% efficient, meaning we need five times more power to operate the device itself.
"We're talking megawatts here; the amount of power required to run a small town. Thus, even portable directed energy devices are quite large. Although devices with up to 300kW of power have been developed, the US has only recently managed to produce a 50kW laser small enough to fit on an armored vehicle."