Detailed performance comparison of fiber-based CBC and SBC laser weapon systems

This paper presents a detailed comparison of tactical 100 kW class LWS performance against a moving target when equipped with the 2 HEL types, when everything external to the HEL architecture is kept the same. This includes the total number of fiber lasers, the total fiber laser power, the LWS aperture diameter (D = 30 cm), and the LWS beam delivery optics and beam control system (i.e. fine tracking and adaptive optics) to the greatest extent possible, and builds upon results previously published. We also contrast performance degradations associated with loss of individual fiber channels. The analysis is performed using Wave Optics algorithms, which are required to accurately assess the subtle beam quality differences between CBC and SBC HEL’s. This paper presents a detailed explanation why the simpler algorithms found in Directed Energy (DE) Scaling Law codes do not have the necessary fidelity to properly treat this problem.