AFSOC: AC-130 laser weapon test

For five years, the Hurlburt Field, Fla.-based Air Force Special Operations Command has been working on placing a high-energy laser weapon on its newest AC-130J gunship. The AF now plans to test-fire a 60-kw laser in 2022, according to a program executive officer affiliated with fixed-wing programs. "If it is successful - and we are planning for success - then it will feed into our new requirements and potentially a new program down the road," AF Col. Melissa Johnson, PEO at AFSOC, said according to National Defense Magazine. She spoke at last week's Virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. "If this goes forward past the demo ... we'll have an additional (RDT&E) program going forward." Previous tests have been ground based and with Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va. The next, scheduled for FY 2022, will be onboard an AC-130 aircraft, she said. The J-model aircraft achieved initial operational capability in September 2017. The 4th Special Operations Squadron, part of the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, received its first J-model with the Block 30 software upgrade in March 2019. The fourth-generation AC-130 is slated to replace the AC-130H/U/W models with delivery anticipated in 2021. AFSOC had hoped to incorporate the laser onto the aircraft in 2020. Gaps in funding, not technological maturity, were behind the delay, Johnson said. "After several years of seeking stable funding, we are there." (Source: Military.com 05/18/20) https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/05/18/air-force-finally-has-plans-test-laser-weapon-its-ac-130j-gunship.html