AFRL gets Northrop laser.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The US Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base Kirtland Air Force Base is located in the southeast quadrant of Albuquerque, New Mexico, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base is the third largest installation in Air Force Materiel Command, covering 51,558 acres (209 km²) and employing over 23,000 people, , New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). has accepted delivery of the first production-line high-power, solid-state laser A solid-state laser is a laser that uses a gain medium that is a solid, rather than a liquid such as in dye lasers or a gas as in gas lasers. Semiconductor-based lasers are also in the solid state, but are generally considered as a separate class from solid-state lasers (see from Northrop Grumman. The stand-alone, 15 kW system, dubbed Vesta II, is the sole-source add-on to the Joint High Power Solid State Laser programme. Vesta II is a reduced-size, transportable, push-button (electronics) push-button - A roughly fingertip-sized plastic cover attached to a spring-loaded, normally-open switch, which, when pressed, closes the switch. Typical examples are the keys on a computer or calculator keyboard and mouse buttons. unit that produces a high-quality beam for testing lethality, atmospheric propagation, long-range imaging and other laser weapon applications. Compared to the 15 kW power level of the Vesta II, the US military has set a minimum standard of 100 kW for shooting down rockets, missiles artillery and mortars. |
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