The next generation of Russian fighter planes is likely to be equipped with a high-powered laser weapon that can burn through the optics of incoming missiles.
The Adviser to the First Deputy CEO of Radio-Electronic Technologies Group (KRET) Vladimir Mikheyev, told Russian newswire service TASS that sixth-gen Russian fighters will “be able to burn out ‘the eyes’ of missiles that ‘look at’” them.
“Naturally,” he said, “such systems will be installed on sixth-generation aircraft as well.”
Also in the mix for the next generation of Russian air assets: Microwave weapons, provided Moscow’s defense industry can figure out how to protect pilots.
Finally, Mikheyev said the Russians are also working on radio-photonic radar for their next-gen fighters, which “will be able to see farther than existing radars” and be sophisticated enough to provide radar operators “an almost photographic image” of incoming fighters and other threats.
“The plane’s computer will immediately and automatically identify a flying object, for example, and F-18, with specific types of missile armament.”
(Analyst Comment: The U.S. Air Force is also developing lasers for its sixth-generation fighters, hopefully fielding them by 2022.)
