WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO (AFRL) – The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) completed a successful flight-test campaign for a new beam director concept that can be used with directed energy laser systems integrated onto aircraft.
The Hybrid Aero-Effect Reducing Design with Realistic Optical Components (HARDROC) team, consisting of personnel from AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate here and Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, along with prime contractor MZA Associates, developed and tested a low-power, subscale beam director to evaluate the ability of various aerodynamic flow control techniques to mitigate optical and mechanical distortions imparted on a laser beam leaving an airborne platform travelling at high speeds.