Directed Energy Weapon / Targeted Individual Patents . What exactly is a directed energy weapon? So, for a hypersonic weapon that is travelling at 25 times the speed of sound, a high- energy laser can engage it at roughly 35,000 times its speed. Havana syndrome is a set of medical symptoms reported by US personnel in Havana, Cuba and other locations, suspected by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to be caused by microwave energy. The virtual inaudibility of the equipment is said to produce a "spooky" psychological effect. [2]David E. Fisher, A Race on the Edge of Time: Radar-The Decisive Weapon of WWII (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), pp. We proved that the technology could be effective, but its size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements made the laser weapons impracticable to field. However, a stronger counterargument is that directed-energy weapons, especially lasers, are more humane than conventional weapons because they can strike pinpoint targets, thus causing less collateral damage. More importantly, peer and near-peer nations are developing these weapons at an alarming rate. The Armys Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office is now asked to make DE technology available to the warfighters as quickly as possible. DEW technology is changing faster than international laws and treaties can adapt. and directed energy weapons exist in the medical profession and in society at large. Depending on factors such as burst height, microwave frequency, and the shielding around the target electronics, such an e-bomb could have an effective range of several hundred meters. The MDT is a fixed grid of passive infrared (IR) cameras. Modern battlefield weapons are the descendents of muskets and cannon. . Adversaries are not waiting to develop directed energy weapons. The soldier returned a short time later to say that the engine would now work and the tourists drove off. Richert Seifert & Co from Hamburg delivered parts. But with laser weapons, instead of thinking in terms of a laser pointer, the mental image should be more like a powerful, long-range blowtorch! This information is then transferred to an optical tracking system, which refines the target tracking and positions the beam director. General DOD policy is that directed-energy weapons can be used legitimately on the battlefield. They built an electron accelerator called Rheotron to generate hard X-ray synchrotron beams for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM). Furthermore, the power of lasers and microwave weapons has decreased, allowing for nonlethal uses. At distances of 50200 meters (160660ft), the sound waves could act on organ tissues and fluids by repeatedly compressing and releasing compressive resistant organs such as the kidneys, spleen, and liver. This is just the beginning of a plan to deploy 50kW lasers on four of its Stryker vehicles over the next few years for operational use.12, A fire support noncommissioned officer with 4th Division Artillery, 4th Infantry Division, who participated in the testing of a 2kW version of the laser vehicle at Fort Sill, Oklahoma against unmanned drones was quoted in a February 28, 2018 Army Times article as saying, It was extremely efficient, I was able to bring them down as [fast as] they were able to put them up.13. Directed energy system is further defined by the STOA document: "Directed energy weapon system designed to match radio frequency source to interfere with human brain activity at synapse level" (at the bottom of the page, first reference, Appendix 6-67). Since these weapons maneuver, the United States needs to be able to precisely track the hypersonic missile throughout its entire flight or birth to death. The only cost-effective way to accomplish this is using space-based satellites. Development of the THEL began in 1996 as a joint program between the United States and Israel to develop a laser system capable of shooting down Katyusha rockets, artillery, and mortar shells. "laser.". "Bofors HPM Blackout". However, British scientists calculated that the electronic systems of the time could not generate the power necessary for a "death ray," and research was redirected into early radar detection systems. HPM weapons lethality is typically described in terms of their ability to deny, degrade, damage or destroy a targets capabilities. In addition to the nuclear ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea, which can be defended by U.S. missile defense systems, there is a North Korean threat which cannot be defended against today. '[67] The British Ministry of Defence denied the existence of such a device. Loading. Though the strategic missile defense concept has continued to the present under the Missile Defense Agency, most of the directed-energy weapon concepts were shelved. The short, intense bursts of energy produced by HPM devices damage equipment without injuring personnel. This capability would be very useful at checkpoints or for stopping escaping vehicles. In 1935, the British Air Ministry asked Robert Watson-Watt of the Radio Research Station whether a "death ray" was possible. Depending on the particulars of the weapon, and how it is used, ERP levels can reach into the hundreds of gigawatts or higher. The intent was to pre-ionize ignition in aircraft engines and hence serve as anti-aircraft DEW and bring planes down into the reach of the flak. 9 Eileen Walling, High Power Microwaves, Strategic and Operational Implications for Warfare, Occasional Paper no. [71] The negative effects of the radiation poisoning and cancer would extend past the period of incarceration. Space-based lasers would have a profound impact on the U.S. ability to defend and if necessary, fight in space. [20], The Active Denial System (ADS) is a nonlethal anti-personnel DEW that uses millimeter-wavelength beams to create a painful sensation in an individual without causing actual injury. In fact, the megawatt-class Airborne Laser developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s required an entire 747 aircraft to hold the equipment. (Washington D.C.: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2018). The sensation increases in intensity until the affected individual moves out of the beam or it is shut off. They hurt and kill with electromagnetic power. However, the first working laser was not built until 1960, opening an entirely new avenue of directed-energy research. Similar to the Armys RCCTO and the Navys Accelerated Acquisition (AA) Process, the Air Force is leveraging both Air Force Research Laboratorys DE Directorate and Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Office to expedite delivery of capabilities to address key capability gaps identified in the DE flight plan: Forward Base Defense, Precision Strike, and Aircraft Self-Protect. In the later phases of World War II, Nazi Germany increasingly put its hopes on research into technologically revolutionary secret weapons, the Wunderwaffe. The United States cannot allow itself to fall behind in yet another area of warfighting as has happened in hypersonics. In this case, the laser weapon system would sense the atmospheric conditions to the target, then using fast steering mirrors, it would deform the main laser beam as it leaves the weapon to use the atmosphere to the target much like the lens of a pair of glasses to refocus the beam on the target. If the microwave energy travels through the targets own antenna, dome, or other sensor opening, then this pathway is commonly referred to as the front door.7 On the other hand, if the microwave emissions travel through cracks, seams, trailing wires, metal conduits, or seals of the target, then this pathway is called the back door.8. Improvements in energy-generating systems may also make particle-beam weapons feasible. The combination of technology advancements improving lethality and reducing SWaP in high energy laser technology and the advent of threats such as hypersonic weapons for which kinetic solutions are problematic has resulted in high energy lasers and directed energy weapons more generally being pursued vigorously across the services consistent with the National Defense Strategy.10. Alane Kochems Another power source, well-suited to one-time use in an e-bomb, is the Explosively Pumped Flux Compression Generator (EPFCG). [27][28][29] The first use of directed-energy weapons in combat between military forces was claimed to have occurred in Libya in August 2019 by Turkey, which claimed to use the ALKA directed-energy weapon. What are the challenges and next steps? Such stories were circulating in Britain around 1938 and during the war British Intelligence relaunched the myth as a "British engine-stopping ray," trying to spoof the Germans into researching what the British had supposedly invented in an attempt to tie up German scientific resources. As defined by Direct Energy Weapons Agency is any weapon, device or electronic that uses any kind of energy to disable, harass, assault, incapacitate another human being, an enemy's weapons, their equipment, hideouts, etc. While the development costs of directed energy systems can be high, there are several factors in play which can reduce these costs or at least provide better return on the investment over the life cycle. The device emits separate electromagnetic pulses to suppress navigation and transmission channels used to operate an aerial drone, terminating the drone's contact with its operator; the out-of-control drone then crashes. However, the wide variety of missions, platforms, and implementation environments necessitates continued service-differentiated development activities. While directed-energy technology is not the panacea for all situations that its most ardent advocates claim, it can give the U.S. military flexibility in tailoring its responses (e.g., lethal or nonlethal) to different types of targets (humans or machines). And of course, lasers employed at higher altitudes or in space would have very little to no atmospheric affects. The pain forces the person to flee the area. This concentrated energy can have effects across the entire spectrum from non-lethal to lethal. They are also used on ships as an anti-piracy measure. [19]GlobalSecurity.org, "High Power Microwave (HPM)/E-Bomb," at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/hpm.htm (March 15, 2006). While centuries of technological advances have improved the power of these materials, the basic operating principle of chemical-powered weapons ultimately remains the same. Early reports claimed that this was responsible for causing "malfunctions on the space shuttle and distress to the crew", and that the United States filed a diplomatic protest about the incident. Directed energy weapons could also play a key role in defending against what has been described as the number one threat to the United States by the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Dr. Mike Griffinhypersonic weapons. The laser light is coherent in a single color, and the flashlight is broad-spectrum light. The number of "shots" a laser weapon can produce is limited only by its power supply. This In Focus discusses a selection of Andrew Gudgel. [24]China North Industries Corporation, "ZM-87 Portable Laser Disturber Fact Sheet," quoted in Human Rights Watch, "Blinding Laser Weapons: The Need to Ban a Cruel and Inhumane Weapon," September 1995, at http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/General1.htm (March 15, 2006). However, directed-energy weapons (DEWs) are a reality, and several have already been tested under battlefield conditions. 1, 2018, available at < https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/03/21/us-army-successfully-demos-laser-weapon-on-stryker-in-europe/>. They are well-suited to defending against threats such as missiles and artillery shells, which DEWs can shoot down in mid-flight. It is relatively close to deployment. It was a psychological warfare method which could involve the group based and systematic gaslighting of targets, among other things. Developing hypersonic interceptors will also be an option in the U.S. defense architecture. Magnus Karlsson (2009). For example, while the Chinese ZM-87 laser interference device is technically a laser dazzler, it can permanently damage the human eye at a distance of two to three kilometers. A year later, testing showed that the ADS could produce effects at ranges beyond current small-arms range. Examples include damaging individual components, circuit cards, or the mother boards in a desktop computer. Space-based high energy lasers could be brought to bear especially in the boost/ascent phase of boost glide hypersonic missiles where a high-energy laser could destroy the vehicle early in its trajectory. The countries abandoned particle-beam weapon research as impracticable.[3]. Neither should we. Neuro-weapons can take the form of biological agents, chemical weapons and in the Havana case directed energy, and possibly a combination of different methods, Giordano said. [19], A subset of HPM devices can affect the human body. These weapons were considered for both land and space-based systems. The antenna gain of the weapon system is also very important, and when combined with the power of the RF source, yields the Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of the weapon. Within that priority area, the Army is focused on the use of high energy lasers to provide Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) and ManeuverShort-Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD). They could therefore avoid there being any evidence of repression or at least limit it. The DOD Office of Force Transformation (OFT), in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory, is developing the Tactical Relay Mirror System (TRMS), which would use a mirror system mounted on an aerostat or UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to redirect the beams from laser weapons such as the ATL and ABL. Andrew Gudgel, a former Army Warrant Officer, is currently a freelance writer. Boeing has received a C-130H transport aircraft from the Air Force and is modifying it for installation of the laser system. However, these lasers were generally large and heavy. According to a legend, Archimedes created a mirror with an adjustable focal length (or more likely, a series of mirrors focused on a common point) to focus sunlight on ships of the Roman fleet as they invaded Syracuse, setting them on fire. They are not "weapons of mass destruction," but they have the potential to . Light and repetitive visual signals can induce epileptic seizures. This makes targeting and tracking easier as well. In a March 6, 2018 speech, said, Im sorry for everybody out there who champions some other high priority, some technical thing; its not that I disagree with those, he told the room, But there has to be a first, and hypersonics is my first.16. [17]Dr. Stephen Adams, "Electrical Power and Thermal Management for Airborne Directed Energy Weapons," U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, September 2001, at http://www.afrlhorizons.com/Briefs/Sept01/PR0101.html (March 15, 2006). These lasers, combined with significant improvements in computational power, represent dramatic advances in technology over those used in the Airborne Laser program. For example, atmospheric conditions such as turbulence, haze, clouds, etc. One problem that affects laser beam strength is a phenomenon known as "blooming," which occurs when the laser beam heats the atmosphere through which it is passing, turning the air into plasma. This laser uses rings of magnetically confined electrons whirling at the speed of light to produce laser beams that can be tuned up and down the electromagnetic spectrum from microwaves to ultraviolet light. [26]David Ruppe, "Directed-Energy Weapons: Possible U.S. Use Against Iraq Could Threaten International Regimes," Global Security Newswire, at http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/020816-dew.htm (March 15, 2006). 8, No. Laser light can be produced by a number of different methods, ranging from rods of chemically doped glass to energetic chemical reactions to semiconductors. [81] After the end of the Cold War, the Terra-3 facility was found to be a low-power laser testing site with limited satellite tracking capabilities, which is now abandoned and partially disassembled. Laser energy can be generated as a continuous wave or in pulses, which also influences its lethality. 1, Air War College Center for Strategy and Technology, May 2000. But the fact that the. PRISM. While DEWs are not a panacea, the armed services should fully support research and development of these useful technologies. The Active Denial System (ADS) is a nonlethal anti-personnel DEW that uses millimeter-wavelength beams to create a painful sensation in an individual without causing actual injury. Various morally flexible, highly educated professionals provide their services to the states most probably lured by utilitarian gains and acting not only against the law, but against any moral value, their Ippocratical oath and other professional ethics. (Invented by Max Steenbeck at Siemens-Schuckert in the 1930s, these were later called Betatrons by the Americans.) The Defense Department is developing directed energy weapons high-powered lasers and microwaves in concert with industry in a way designed to achieve optimal outcomes. A possible future development is the electrolaser. The Soviet Union invested some effort in the development of ruby and carbon dioxide lasers as anti-ballistic missile systems, and later as a tracking and anti-satellite system. This damage may create permanent effects depending upon the severity of the attack and the ability of the enemy to diagnose, replace, or repair the affected systems. Examples of NLFoS weapons include: a 60kW laser called HELIOS (High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance) expected to be deployed by 2021 that will be capable of burning through small boats and shooting down drones; the SSLTM (Solid State LaserTechnology Maturation system), which will eventually be a 150kW laser weapon on the LPD27 amphibious ship; and the ODIN (Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy) that will also go on a destroyer.11. One of the most promising laser devices is the free-electron laser. The Defense Department and Congress should start to fund promising and proven DEW technology so that promising weapon systems can move from the lab to the battlefield where they can help military personnel. For fictional uses, see, "DEW" redirects here. . [63], During the early 1940s Axis engineers developed a sonic cannon that could cause fatal vibrations in its target body. U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, "High-Power Microwaves," fact sheet, September 2002, at, Dr. Stephen Adams, "Electrical Power and Thermal Management for Airborne Directed Energy Weapons," U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, September 2001, at, Carlo Kopp, "The Electromagnetic Bomb-A Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction," at, GlobalSecurity.org, "High Power Microwave (HPM)/E-Bomb," at, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, "Active Denial System," fact sheet, September 2005, at, Press release, "Northrop Grumman Surpasses Power, Run-Time Requirements of Joint High Power Solid-State Laser Program for Military Use," Northrop Grumman Corporation, November 9, 2005, at, China North Industries Corporation, "ZM-87 Portable Laser Disturber Fact Sheet," quoted in Human Rights Watch, "Blinding Laser Weapons: The Need to Ban a Cruel and Inhumane Weapon," September 1995, at, "Electromagnetic Weapons: Come Fry with Me,", David Ruppe, "Directed-Energy Weapons: Possible U.S. Use Against Iraq Could Threaten International Regimes," Global Security Newswire, Russias New START Breach Means U.S. Nuclear Weapons Modernization Is a Must, North Koreas Growing ICBM Threat: How America and South Korea Should Respond, China Surpasses U.S. in Nuclear Missile Launchers; U.S. Unprepared to Deter Growing Threat. Think of the difference between a laser pointer and a flashlight. [16]U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, "High-Power Microwaves," fact sheet, September 2002, at http://www.de.afrl.af.mil/Factsheets/HPM.swf (March 15, 2006). Increasing laser power and improving the beam quality can also help to mitigate atmospheric effects in many cases. Additional information on How Lasers Work, is available on the Lawrence Livermore National Lab website,
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