Defence Shield

[USS KG5]

I was thinking about the US missile defence shield and wondered why it's so hard to just build a single Laser beam weapon facility to take down all incoming missiles?

Even if the technology existed, surely one special forces raid or surprise air strike and your big laser is a piles of ash and your country is defenseless?

Most modern air defense systems are highly distributed to allow resiliance to air attack, you cannot wipe it out completely if there are over a hundred launchers, a lot of which can move, it is the biggest problem with bombing Iran - well that and it might cause WW3...

All you would be creating is one big target, a white elephant with no military value.

The other problem with lasers is that they would be no more accurate than a modern AAA gun at tracking missiles or aircraft, the reason they use missiles is because they continue to track an aircraft or missile for some time, allowing multiple chances for a kill, a laser would be one shot, and it would need to be a bluddy good shot.

Even if you had a laser defense system (the one big gun idea is just silly) to engage ICBMs you would still need to take care of strategic bombers, fast low jets, cruise missiles...

Plus the biggest threat in the modern world to the civilians of the West is a bloke with a beard, a lazy eye and a padded jacket, and your laser won't help much at killing him either.

 

[Dayton3]

Any laser system that could destroy ICBMs would have few problems with bombers or cruise missiles if it had a line of sight on them.

 

[Australis]

No matter the punch, there will be dispersal or scatter problems, which weakens the effect considerably. Existing systems can't keep that kind of focus over many hundreds of kilometers through dust, cloud and atmospherice distortion.

ETA: an dhad an extra thought. How many ICBMs exist today? Therea re Tomahak style missiles I suppose, they fly low precisely to avoid detection and this kind of defence system.

Not to mention, as stated above, you may as well paint a big red target on it.

 

[USS KG5]

Any laser system that could destroy ICBMs would have few problems with bombers or cruise missiles if it had a line of sight on them.

Well if the bomber and cruise missile were decent enough to fly in a straight line on a predictable trajectory like an ICBM you would be right, hopefully the enemy would be that stupid.

If however they did what bombers and cruise missiles actually do - fly low, use contours in the landscape, evade and generally do their best to avoid being shot down - then you have a big crater where the OPs big laser was.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Any laser system that could destroy ICBMs would have few problems with bombers or cruise missiles if it had a line of sight on them.

Well if the bomber and cruise missile were decent enough to fly in a straight line on a predictable trajectory like an ICBM you would be right, hopefully the enemy would be that stupid.

If however they did what bombers and cruise missiles actually do - fly low, use contours in the landscape, evade and generally do their best to avoid being shot down - then you have a big crater where the OPs big laser was.

Thats why you make sure it's armour plated and surrounded by many radar systems and a patriot missile style system.

 

[Tyberius]

Any laser system that could destroy ICBMs would have few problems with bombers or cruise missiles if it had a line of sight on them.

Well if the bomber and cruise missile were decent enough to fly in a straight line on a predictable trajectory like an ICBM you would be right, hopefully the enemy would be that stupid.

If however they did what bombers and cruise missiles actually do - fly low, use contours in the landscape, evade and generally do their best to avoid being shot down - then you have a big crater where the OPs big laser was.

Thats why you make sure it's armour plated and surrounded by many radar systems and a patriot missile style system.

If the laser is that good, why not surround it with a laser system?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Well if the bomber and cruise missile were decent enough to fly in a straight line on a predictable trajectory like an ICBM you would be right, hopefully the enemy would be that stupid.

If however they did what bombers and cruise missiles actually do - fly low, use contours in the landscape, evade and generally do their best to avoid being shot down - then you have a big crater where the OPs big laser was.

Thats why you make sure it's armour plated and surrounded by many radar systems and a patriot missile style system.

If the laser is that good, why not surround it with a laser system?

Because any surrounding laser systems would be much smaller and therefore less effective and have a shorter range, a patriot style system hooked up to numerous radar systems could more accuretely take down cruise missiles that are skulking there way through the hills and mountains. Another point I forgot to mention is that the laser system would be on high ground above everything else in order to have clear shot of the sky and horizon for miles around, any radar system up there with it combined with lower radar would see any incoming cruise missiles long before they came close enough to cause damage.

 

[Tyberius]

Thats why you make sure it's armour plated and surrounded by many radar systems and a patriot missile style system.

If the laser is that good, why not surround it with a laser system?

Because any surrounding laser systems would be much smaller and therefore less effective and have a shorter range, a patriot style system hooked up to numerous radar systems could more accuretely take down cruise missiles that are skulking there way through the hills and mountains. Another point I forgot to mention is that the laser system would be on high ground above everything else in order to have clear shot of the sky and horizon for miles around, any radar system up there with it combined with lower radar would see any incoming cruise missiles long before they came close enough to cause damage.

I think there are two basic problems with this system (not insurmountable though, but dealbreakers in the short run):

Capacitance and mobility

There exists no technology to provide for the power needs of a laser of that size capable of destroying an incoming ICBM so thoroughly that the destruction of the missile does not cause collateral damage. At line of sight, the missile has already reached its apex and will now destroy anything underneath it if the missile itself is not vaporized. Nor does there exist the technology to provide for sustained repeated bursts of power to enable the device to be retasked to additional incoming targets. Modern lasers capable of cutting as required, themselves require a significant startup time. We cannot provide the capacity of fire needed to be effective.

The system, as described, will be very vulnerable to attack. The system will be ground based and exposed to 360degree incursion. Normal ground troops will be able to use traditional tactics and flank the weapon. Where normal ground troops are not available, as in non nation/state conflicts, asynchronous warfare will still leave the weapon vulnerable due to it known position. No amount of security will be able to hold a dedicated asynchronous attacker at bay. The immobility of the device compromises its effectiveness over the long term.

The system has to be mobile (or at least have many mobile component providing redundancy to the fixed assets) and has to be capable of sustained engagement with multiple targets. We need to take your laser and mount it on a tractor trailer and make it capable of repeat fire at range.

 

[USS KG5]

Thats why you make sure it's armour plated and surrounded by many radar systems and a patriot missile style system.

Cool - so the enemy would also be able to take down your short range air defense system with one strike too because you are putting not only all your eggs but your bacon in your basket?

Heavy defenses might make losses severe amongst your attackers, but given as your ballistic missile defense is concentrated on that one target and only one bomber needs to get through to win the war, very heavy casualties would be very much worth it.

History is replete with occasions when very heavily defended targets were destroyed by determined air attack, there is still no 100% effective defense against the bomber from the ground.

a patriot style system hooked up to numerous radar systems could more accuretely take down cruise missiles that are skulking there way through the hills and mountains.

It depends how many cruise missiles doesn't it. Also let's not forget that a piloted bomber will evade and have countermeasures, not to mention speed and likely surprise on it's side.

Another point I forgot to mention is that the laser system would be on high ground above everything else in order to have clear shot of the sky and horizon for miles around, any radar system up there with it combined with lower radar would see any incoming cruise missiles long before they came close enough to cause damage.

It would also be incredibly easy to see, lock onto and hit, a single squadron of bombers with half decent pilots would rip it to shreds, though maybe only a third of them would get home.

Your big laser would be useless against fighter-bombers as it would not be able to track and fire quickly enough to effectively engage more than one or two (if im generous) fighters.

Now if you couple this with a ring of defenses using missile technology, you are getting closer to an idea that would work, lasers to engage ballistic missiles as part of an in-depth, multi-capable air defense system, couple it with an effective fighter screen and you might be onto something that might happen.

The first principle of an attack is to concentrate your forces on a vulnerable or critical target as much as possible - your proposal would give the enemy a key, obvious target that would not last long in a conflict no matter how well defended it was.

Lasers as part of a defense system could prove an effective defense - the goal is to intercept the missiles early and a well-aimed laser can get up to the extreme heights an ICBM reaches far quicker than a missile, but concentrating all that defense in one place is just loopy, no offense.