New sensor protection technologies to mitigate threat of growing laser designators and Directed Energy Weapons

In recent years, high power fiber and semiconductor laser technology has improved rapidly, with power density increasing by an order of magnitude or more. Much of this increase has been driven by demand for industrial cutting machines and high-bandwidth, long-range telecommunications. These same laser materials and devices can also be used as directed energy weapons against personnel and electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors. Purposeful laser strikes on aircraft have increased rapidly over the last decade. In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that hostile forces have been lasing American planes with laser pointers at a growing rate and these irradiance incidents have the potential to affect the operation of EO/IR sensors.