Special Forces Test Laser Gunship For Covert Strikes

The prospect of laser fire from above moved closer with an announcement from the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) that they will test fire a high-energy laser weapon from an AC-130J aircraft in 2022. The plan was disclosed at the at the Virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference this week.

The AC-130J Ghostrider is a fearsome flying arsenal. Like its Vietnam-era gunship predecessors, it carries a radar-guided 105mm howitzer and 30mm rapid fire cannon. The modern version also has precision strike capability , dropping 250-pound GPS-guided GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs and 34-pound laser-guided AGM-176 Griffin missiles.

AFSOC have been working towards the laser-armed gunship for at least five years, in partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, and have carried out studies and ground tests.

Laser weapons are of course the Next Big Thing, and they are being fitted to everything from fighter jets to ground vehicles and even submarines. However, the laser-armed gunship is different to the others in one important respect. The Self-Protect High-Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) on those jets is to defend against missiles, and ground troops and warships have lasers for protection against drones. The gunship laser is an offensive weapon intended to take out targets on the ground. The question is: what targets?

Most military lasers are in the 30-50 kilowatt range, with some getting up to 150 kilowatts. The laser being tested on the Ghostrider is in the middle range at around 60 kilowatts. At such power levels it would be highly effective at melting small quadcopters out of the sky, putting missiles out of action or even, given time, damaging small boats. But such lasers are of little use against full-size targets. This type of laser is basically a long-range blowtorch, able to give someone a serious burn, not kill them unless they stand still long enough. It would be even less effective against vehicles. Meanwhile the Ghostrider’s GAU-23 30mm cannon will punch through two inches of steel plate from a mile away and destroy a light armored vehicle with one shot — and it fires 200 shots a minute.  

The Ghostrider already has ample firepower for battlefield targets. It can carry out the traditional gunship role of fire support against vehicles and enemy positions with its artillery, but it can knock out buildings and bunkers with bombs, and the small Griffin missile, with laser precision and low-collateral damage warhead, can take out high-value targets in a counterinsurgency situation.

So why the laser? At the conference, the developers talked about the laser’s ability to deliver what they call ‘scalable effects’ , which means selectively damaging a vehicle’s tires rather than blowing it up, for example, something aided by the laser’s accuracy. However, perhaps more importantly the new laser will give AFSOC something they have always highly valued: covert strike capability.

Unlike the zap-guns in the movie, real-life laser weapons do not produce a visible beam. Even if the light catches dust or other particles, it is infra-red and invisible to the human eye. There is no smoke trail, impact, or explosion, just a silent, deadly beam. Which is exactly what you want for covert operations.

As far back as 2008 John Corley, Director of the USAF’s Air Armament Center gave a presentation on emerging capabilities including an airborne tactical laser weapon in a C-130. He estimated that a 100-kw laser would have an effective range of “10 Km+” and listed as an advantage “Covert – plausible deniability.”

Striking at night and from long range, a laser armed Ghostrider would be neither seen nor heard. The laser might not be able to knock out tanks but it could, for example, damage radio or radar equipment, start fires, set fuel or ammunition stores ablaze, and destroy vulnerable gear like rockets on their launchers. And there would be no forensic traces left at the target site: no shell fragments or tell-tale missile parts to indicate where the strike had come from.

The effort to put a laser on the Ghostrider was recently upgraded to a demonstration program. After years of delays, funding has now been provided for the project. A successful demonstration will lead to further development and, ultimately , an operational laser system. Any further information about the laser or what it gets used for will depend on what Air Force Special Operations Command wish to share.