It has been talked about more than once in the past that as a sixth-generation stealth fighter, it will inevitably be equipped with high-power airborne laser cannons in the future. In the end, it will be realized both inside and outside the atmosphere, using super-range air-to-air missiles at the same time, with high-power lasers as the main means of annihilating any hostile air target. Before 2050, airborne lasers suitable only for fighters do not need to achieve the same strike range and lethality as ground and sea surface strategic lasers. As long as it can be within 50 kilometers at medium and low altitudes and within 100 kilometers at high altitudes, the fighter's airborne laser can achieve a lethal effect similar to that of the past machine guns. In essence, airborne lasers are also the ultimate means of killing and directly replacing cannons and combat short-range air-to-air missiles. From this point of view, the total weight of a single installation of airborne lasers should not exceed 800 kg in principle, and the maximum relaxation scale is no more than one ton. A single new fighter is usually equipped with one laser cannon of this type. Considering that the 6th generation is manned stealth, the size of the aircraft is relatively large.
There is a high probability that it will exceed 40 tons, so the requirements can also be relaxed to install two airborne laser cannons of less than 1 ton at the same time. This makes it possible to simultaneously deal with multi-target coordinated operations in different hemispheres. The problem is that most of the actual combat radius of fighter guns in history is within 800 meters. At present, the effective combat radius of the laser anti-UAV vehicle-mounted system on the ground has generally risen to the range of 5 km, and the farthest effective interception radius even exceeds 15 km! Considering that the transparency of the upper atmosphere is better, the killing distance of weapon-grade lasers will be even greater. The main obstacles lie in three points: First, the total weight of the anti-UAV and cruise missile lasers that have been actually used on the ground is still relatively large; the weight of the system itself is generally still in the 5 to 10 ton range; if the aircraft is to be finally put on the plane, the whole system must be compressed to less than 1 ton, which is still needed at present.
System-wide deep weight loss. Second, the power supply system of the ground laser is also large, and the total power requirements during operation are also high, which is temporarily unable to meet the standard of the airborne power generation system of the existing fighter. In fact, the above two points are not completely impossible to overcome. Considering that there are already high-efficiency energy storage systems such as supercapacitors, and the system on the machine can further reduce the power. Then it is not difficult to achieve the whole system to about 1 ton and achieve high-altitude laser hard killing within 5 to 10 kilometers. In fact, the biggest obstacle lies in the key third point: that is, after the laser is put on the plane, the launch platform itself is extremely unstable, and it must be greatly maneuvered at any time. This makes it difficult to have a very smooth launch base like a ground-deployed near-defense laser. If the launch platform itself fluctuates at any time, it requires the presence of a large gyroscopic stabilization assist system, which is also a key technical challenge before the laser cannon is put on board. To maneuver in the air in a large way,
To achieve a one-hit laser cannon, the weight and volume of the stabilized gyroscope are often larger and heavier than the laser itself. Although airborne lasers cannot completely replace cannons and combat air-to-air missiles for the time being, as an active defense system for anti-air-to-air missiles, they are about to be tested by actual targets. This is mainly due to the fact that the airborne active laser defense system is short and concise, the effective combat distance is within several kilometers or even 1 kilometer, and the terminal trajectory of the incoming missile is relatively stable or even rigid, which does not require the active laser killer to install a large-size stable gyroscope. The full weight of a single system can be controlled within 100 kg, and multiple units can be installed on different spheres on one fighter. A 5.5 generation stealth aircraft will add a new air combat weapon!