Pese a que el Departamento de Defensa de EUA contin\u00faa fomentando el desarrollo Armas LASER para equipar a las Fuerzas, FRANK KENDAL, Secretario de Adquisiciones, Tecnolog\u00eda y Log\u00edstica para la Defensa, ha expresado su visi\u00f3n realista acerca \u00a0de las capacidades alcanzadas por estos sistemas. “Despu\u00e9s de 30 a\u00f1os de desarrollo, los resultados obtenidos no son los inicialmente esperados”, expres\u00f3. A\u00fan existen muchas limitaciones en lo relacionado a dimensiones, peso y potencia \u00a0requeridas a las plataformas, para sostener el funcionamiento de LASERES \u00a0de Alta Potencia. Su desempe\u00f1o en condiciones clim\u00e1ticas adversas es otra seria limitaci\u00f3n \u00a0Por ello, se considera que los desarrollo a\u00fan no han alcanzado un grado de madurez suficiente, como para ser efectivamente empleados en combate. No obstante lo expresado, se considera que son aptos para destruir peque\u00f1os blancos a\u00e9reos, tales como mini UAVs, ya que para ello no se requieren LASERES \u00a0de alta potencia.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON —\u00a0While the Pentagon continues to pursue directed-energy weaponry, the building\u2019s top weapons buyer wants to temper expectations.<\/p>\n
Frank Kendall told reporters this week that 30 years of work on laser arms have led him to conclude\u00a0such systems are not the \u201cpanacea\u201d they sometimes are made out to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could be useful if they get to a level of both power, [transmission], and size, weight and power that are manageable,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we\u2019re not at the point where we can decide we\u2019re going to put lasers in the force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendall\u2019s vision of directed energy is a more sober one than others in the Pentagon and in industry previously have offered. A longtime dream of the Defense Department, the technology has been described as almost-there for quite some time.\u00a0In March, engineers at Lockheed Martin said they believe laser weapons are ready for use now, and practically every branch of the department is now publicly touting their investments in directed-energy capabilities.<\/p>\n
In the next five years, the Air Force plans to fire lasers off a fighter jet; the Navy already has a directed-energy weapon onboard the afloat forward-staging base Ponce, which saw deployment to the Gulf last year; and the Missile Defense Agency is investigating the technologies. The Army also has invested in researching the technology.<\/p>\n
Kendall was clear he believes directed energy could be a benefit to the Pentagon going forward, and that the department is dedicated to spending prototyping dollars over the next three years to see if the technology can continue to mature.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a number of prototype programs in directed energy, different technologies going, and they culminate in the next three years, roughly,\u201d he told reporters Sept. 7 after the annual Common Defense conference in Washington. \u201cAt that point we\u2019ll be able to make a decision on what to take forward in the directed-energy world.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, he warned, there are serious limitations that could make it unlikely that a directed-energy weapon is ever truly effective enough to be used in combat. Those limitations go beyond the long-standing question of how much power such a system would require to be effective, and the hurdles of employing it outside controlled laboratory conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are limitations with lasers because of weather. There are limitations of lasers because of behavior, beams of light in the atmosphere, and the possibility that [an enemy] could harden against them,\u201d Kendall explained. \u201cThey are not a panacea.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, one area in which Kendall said a laser weapon could be \u201cvery helpful, potentially,\u201d is countering small, commercial unmanned aerial systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re being used by ISIL, they\u2019re being used by Russia in Ukraine for targeting and sometimes for delivering lethal mechanisms. That is the type of target that is relatively soft to a laser, and it\u2019s also short-range in most cases, so you don\u2019t require as much power,\u201d Kendall explained.<\/p>\n