The United States has declared success with the High Energy Laser Weapons Program (SHiELD), equipped with the fourth generation F-16 fighter
The US Air Force Research Laboratory received the first SHiELD laser weapons system for testing and evaluation.
This is our achievement (including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman) working side by side for the past five years on SHiELD, ”said SHiELD Program Director Jeff Heggemeier.“Development and testing in the test room is complete. We are ready to hand over weapons to the test Air Force under conditions equivalent to actual combat.
SHiELD is developed as a weapon pod mounted under the belly of F-16 fighter or any existing 4th generation fighter in the US Air Force.
“It was a big challenge for us to create a laser generator that is smaller but has the superior power to be attached to a fighter. Despite this, we have achieved success”, says Lockheed Martin’s expert.
The special thing is that SHiELD is not only integrated for 4th generation fighters, but this weapon can be equipped on many different vehicle platforms and they will work effectively when the aircraft operates at subsonic speeds. or just beyond the wall of the sound (Mach 0.75-1.2).
The SHiELD system is designed to neutralize or ignite enemy attack missiles.
Along with the SHiELD’s progress statement, the US has released a video simulating the combat capabilities of this weapon system on the F-16.
According to the published image, the interception was done according to the scenario of the F-16 fighter squadron equipped with laser weapons flying with the KC-46A refueling aircraft, the MiG-29 appeared and launched the arrow. fire attack.
Immediately, the F-16s locked the target and intercepted with a pod-type laser weapon system attached to the abdomen. As a result, both attack missiles were nullified by the laser weapon on the F-16.