Soviet/Russian Laser Weapon Development

While there is a wealth of information available in regards to United States laser weapons program, including the application of such weapons in airborne laboratory testbeds, little is known about Soviet Union and later Russian Federation efforts to produce such weapons. This paper, which deals with the subject from a historical and scientific perspective, is intended to shed some light on the Soviet ground based KLO and A-60 Ladoga ALK laser weapon complex flying laboratory that first flew in the first half of the 1980's. The paper will also briefly detail Russian Federation continuation of A-60 ALK and KLO research work in the twenty first century, the former leading to the current generation Peresvet ground based combat laser complex unveiled in March 2018.All of the technical data and the majority of the graphic material has been furnished by official sources within the current Russian and past Soviet defence industry as well as the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and United States intelligence agencies.