While an AC-130J playing out for real the scenario Lieutenant General Webb had described might still be some way off, it’s clear the basic technology required to realize that kind of mission is now within reach.
Various technical issues, including the size and weight of this 100 kilowatt-class chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) weapon, as well as its power and cooling requirements, had limited the feasibility of turning this into an operational system. A number of actual live-fire tests of one system, known as the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) were conducted using a C-130 testbed aircraft. There were various tests in the 1990s and 2000s that demonstrated the potential value of adding a laser weapon system to an AC-130 gunship.
This is not the first time the Air Force has experimented with this concept. Minutes later, the team emerges from the compound, terrorist mastermind in hand. “The enemy has no communications, no escape vehicle, no electrical power, and no retaliatory intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability. “Without the slightest bang, whoosh, thump, explosion, or even aircraft engine hum, four key targets are permanently disabled,” Lieutenant General Webb explained. A similar concept of operation is shown in a 3D rendered video found on Lockheed Martin's website. In one scenario described to National Defense magazine by Lieutenant General Brad Webb, then the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), an AC-130J armed with a high-energy laser could be used to pick out and destroy an electrical transformer, the engine of a pick-up truck, communication equipment, and a parked drone. A weapon of this kind could defeat a variety of different targets and do so in a way that opponents might not even know they're under attack until it's too late. However, an operational high-energy laser weapon would be a valuable addition to these existing options, providing it works as advertised.
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