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Actually the knowledge base is on life support. The HEL engineering/R&D community was never big and has been decimated during the past 7 years. The optical fabrication business that relies upon military optics has been similarly hollowed out. There is a residual base sufficient to support these small efforts of which electric lasers are part. But comparing budget numbers going into HEL related programs would show a 70% or more reduction with similar cuts in employment. When these people leave, they are, by necessity, moving largely to completely different career categories.Regarding the applicability of the ATL to electric lasers, I am referring to pesky but vital details such as jitter suppression on a turboprop, gimbal control algorithms for air to ground engagements, boundary layer turbulence effects in an actual real world environment, target effects for air to ground HEL, etc etc. None of these require an electrically pumped laser. The thing is, all these options were rejected wholesale. Instead, the program was cancelled after flying for less than a year. The politics is reminiscent of the decision not merely to cancel the B49 bomber (valid on technical merits), but to actually order all existing airframes to be literally chopped to pieces. A vindictiveness that goes beyond programmatic decision making. The same was done to the ABL. Originally, the program was downscoped to an R&D program. Then after a little wait, the aircraft was flown to the boneyard and all the optics ripped out.
Actually the knowledge base is on life support. The HEL engineering/R&D community was never big and has been decimated during the past 7 years. The optical fabrication business that relies upon military optics has been similarly hollowed out. There is a residual base sufficient to support these small efforts of which electric lasers are part. But comparing budget numbers going into HEL related programs would show a 70% or more reduction with similar cuts in employment. When these people leave, they are, by necessity, moving largely to completely different career categories.
Regarding the applicability of the ATL to electric lasers, I am referring to pesky but vital details such as jitter suppression on a turboprop, gimbal control algorithms for air to ground engagements, boundary layer turbulence effects in an actual real world environment, target effects for air to ground HEL, etc etc. None of these require an electrically pumped laser. The thing is, all these options were rejected wholesale. Instead, the program was cancelled after flying for less than a year. The politics is reminiscent of the decision not merely to cancel the B49 bomber (valid on technical merits), but to actually order all existing airframes to be literally chopped to pieces. A vindictiveness that goes beyond programmatic decision making. The same was done to the ABL. Originally, the program was downscoped to an R&D program. Then after a little wait, the aircraft was flown to the boneyard and all the optics ripped out.
