geekslop.com
Next year, DARPA will put powerful laser weapons on aircraft to defend against rearward enemy attacks
DARPA (United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has awarded Lockheed Martin a $9.5 million contract for the third and final phase of the DARPA Aero-Adaptive/Aero-Optic Beam Control (ABC) program. The intent of the “ABC” program is to provide rearward protection of U.S. aircraft using high-energy lasers, which is no easy feat given the rear turbulence generated by the aircraft engines. The ABC weapon system using “adaptive optics” to counter this effect. Adaptive optics involves manipulating the shapes of lenses and mirrors to enable high-energy laser weapons to compensate for the effects of atmospheric turbulence.