In the fast-paced world of continuing American supremacy, it’s easy to forget that the United States is not the world’s only military power. From Vietnam to Somalia to Iraq itself, we see that while American soldiers do fall, they always do so in far smaller numbers than their comparatively primitive adversaries. As such, it might seem odd to develop vehicle-mounted laser platforms for shooting down advanced aerial drones — how’s that going to help you against the low-tech strategies of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and others? But remember that the United States is in the midst of an arms race every bit as close as that of the Cold War — one that could be far more difficult to win long-term.
Mounting weaponized lasers on Humvees is a more difficult proposition than it might at first seem. The world’s first drone-killing laser made its (public) debut in 2012, but its power source was so large that it needed to be mounted on an enormous battleship in order to operate. Though we don’t yet know anything of the specific engineering breakthroughs that allow such extreme miniaturization, we do know that this laser is both smaller and partially powered by fossil fuels via the turning of vehicle’s own drive train. It should be able to output 30 kilowatts of power when stationary with the engine running, and 10 kilowatts while on the move. (For perspective, the ship-mounted version of this technology outputs something like 50 kilowatts.) The laser could could charge to 80% power in just 20 minutes, though the final 20% of charge will take much longer.
This nonlethal microwave “pain” emitter was the closest to a vehicle-mounted laser, until now.Weaponized lasers of this type work in bursts, essentially burning away a thin layer of drone hull, waiting to allow the aerosolized metal to clear, then burrowing another layer down; rinse and repeat maybe 50 times in a millisecond, and you can down even very advanced drone technology. The ship-mounted ADAM laser mentioned earlier has now also been demonstrated against small ships, too. Fitted to a fast-moving vehicle, this 400-pound weapon could bring viable drone-defense almost anywhere in the world. [Read: The science of beam weapons.]
Now, you might be thinking: quadcopter technology is becoming cheaper and more easily available, so couldn’t this be a move to shoot down $500 surveillance or bomb-delivery fliers? The answer lies in altitude: for the most part, if an insurgent group has access to it, conventional weapons can kill it. You only need lasers when you’re shooting at a target that’s too far and/or fast-moving to hit with flying chunks of metal. Note that this technology is perfectly suited to missile defence systems; I don’t care how fast your ICBM is, it can’t outrun photons.
This sort of technology shows the second of America’s two major ongoing military conflicts. One is the global War on Terror, and the other is the global war on anyone who might even for a second think they can rival American power. One is about winning encounters, the other is about preventing them from happening in the first place. The Rand Corporation released a report showing that more than 20 countries are currently working on military UAVs, and while many are NATO allies like the UK, many others are not so friendly to Western aspirations. Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and yes, even China, are all working to create their own military UAVs.
What makes this such a daunting prospect is that drone tech is not a perfect proxy for nuclear weapons. Nukes were the last great military MacGuffin in the Cold War, but their spread was hampered by the incredible feats of engineering needed to actually create them. While there were certainly nuke-geniuses making a difference on both sides of the Iron Curtain, drone tech is much, much more open to advancement by a particularly inspired team or individual. At a time when military power and technological sophistication are basically the exact same thing, that means a country could become a real world player with nothing more than some particularly gifted engineers — no centrifuges, uranium stockpiles, or KGB insiders required. Throw in some advanced AI that allows the drones to launch missiles intelligently and autonomously and you have a pretty daunting weapon of war.
If you don’t believe that technology and power are one and the same thing these days, consider that basically all fear of North Korea is based on its few rinky-dink satellites and mostly broken ICBMs, not on the fact that it technically maintains the largest standing army in the world. For the past five years, drones have basically defined American military action outside of Iraq and Afghanistan, and countries like China are well on their way to developing that power for themselves. White House strategists are increasingly looking for ways to make sure past American successes aren’t revisited on the country’s own troops.
Paradoxically, drone tech has both increased American military capabilities and made those capabilities more attainable by the country’s rivals. Even private corporations like Google and Facebook are investing in drone tech, showing how low the barrier to entry has become. The US may very well find itself making each step forward into a two-stage operation: first to create a new technological advantage, and the other to render the last breakthrough obsolete.
