PLA next/6th generation fighter thread

Atomicfrog

Major
Registered Member
Yes, lasers haven't proved practical yet, particularly on airplanes
I would see some kind of high velocity gun with long range and radar beam ridding technology. Gun can be improved a lot and you don't need a lot to disable another aircraft. New radar are powerfull, the addition of laser and IRST could help these type of guidance to make them quite lethal with small projectiles that can be carried in large number. Laser and IRST line of sight guidance could even make these kind of weapon way hardier to deter.
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
They are getting there: Guardian (DE M-SHORAD) is to be delivered this year.

MW variant is also apparently in progress.

Weight is still a big issue.
The DE M-SHORAD is 9 tonnes heavier than a basic Stryker.

And if the laser CIWS does work out for vehicles and aircraft, strategically it benefits China more than the USA.

The existing inventory of UAVs, aircraft and missiles becomes obsolete, and it is the US which has a much large stockpile of existing weapons accumulated over the past 30 years.

So both China and the US would be starting from scratch in a similar position.
 

Gloire_bb

Captain
Registered Member
Weight is still a big issue.
The DE M-SHORAD is 9 tonnes heavier than a basic Stryker.
Yep, but realistically we're talking about (at the earliest) 2030s aircraft here.
There is quite a while for these things to come together.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
Pretty sure high powered lasers are effective through clouds and smoke etc. Shouldn't it be displacing those particles from the heat alone?
 

gelgoog

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
I think for lasers to be effective in high powered applications they need to radically increase laser performance. i.e. the conversion of electricity to laser light must be way more efficient. Unfortunately the technology to make such lasers does not exist yet. As it is now a lot of power is wasted as heat.

In the meantime lasers might be used in active protection systems against missiles and the like.
 

FairAndUnbiased

Brigadier
Registered Member
I think for lasers to be effective in high powered applications they need to radically increase laser performance. i.e. the conversion of electricity to laser light must be way more efficient. Unfortunately the technology to make such lasers does not exist yet. As it is now a lot of power is wasted as heat.

In the meantime lasers might be used in active protection systems against missiles and the like.
High instantaneous power is achievable with high energy fast pulsed lasers (microsecond or less) with high repetition rates (10s kHz or higher)

Fast pulsed lasers directly vaporize material rather than heat and melt/burn like continuous lasers.
 

broadsword

Brigadier
High instantaneous power is achievable with high energy fast pulsed lasers (microsecond or less) with high repetition rates (10s kHz or higher)

Fast pulsed lasers directly vaporize material rather than heat and melt/burn like continuous lasers.

Is pulse laser still a lab thing though? There does not seem to be any Chinese company making it for industrial use.
 
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