The J-20 Mighty Dragon is a 5th generation fighter in line to be equipped with a directed energy weapon in response to rumors that the US and Indian military are racing to make their own.
Adding up the rumored engine upgrade, it has more performance over its older one. Adopting such a weapon may have advantages over traditional cannons arming fighter jets.
Laser-based technology for J-20 Mighty Dragon upgrades
Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) are laser-based weaponry that includes microwaves or particle energy lasers that will do various degrees of damage to a target, reported the Eurasian Times.
Focusing a finely tuned electromagnetic ray which has various effects on the hardware, facilities, vehicles that are a target by the DEW. It's not as destructive now, but research is being done to have something like a Star Wars death ray someday.
Compared to a projective that kills or injures, even unwanted collateral damage happens. Energy weapons can be non-lethal as they can be deployed invisibly, an advantage.
One of the main uses will be an anti-drone attack as many armies develop their High-Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS). A laser will take a shorter time to shoot than a projectile, and fast-moving targets are well suited for the HELWS.
In 2019, Turkish forces knocked out a Libyan UAV using a laser weapon, cited Defense News.
Directed Energy Weapon
All the news about having lasers as primary weapons for multiple engagements of various types, bear out the J-20 Mighty Dragon will require a directed energy weapon it in anytime soon. But, how to get it mounted should be studied first.
Lasers are energy beams capable of damaging an object with heat energy, but powering the pulses is one more thing to devise. Current technology could not produce the power needed to fire in a large plane or fighter.
According to the Space Review, Russia has developed the Peresvet laser that has been rumored to fire high-energy beams that could strike low-earth orbit aircraft. Even blind the sensors of geosynchronous orbit satellites, the power supply is ground-based but needs lots of power for the pulse.
Some fighter jets like the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-35 has extra electrical power that creates a laser pulse that overloads the IIR heat seeker sensor of an air-to-air or surface-to-air missile. The laser only spoofs the sensor, not like a real laser.
This capability could be used on the J-20.
But, blinding one missile is not enough because air to air means more than one missile will be used on the saw plane. A radar seeker would still seek out the target despite a heat sensor being disabled.
The development of the sixth-generation plane will feature DEWS as part of its equipment since it will be fighting drones and other targets. These include all sorts of new aircraft from the US, Europe, and India that are planned after the F-22 and the F-35.
Until the Mighty Dragon does get its direct energy weapon and is operational, that is left to be seen. Others say China is willing to bet on new technologies to overcome its adversaries. So far, the Chinese have been able to do things unexpectedly, which is something to look out for.
