Directed-energy weaponsU.S. military increasingly interested in diretced energy
Directed-energy weapons were initially conceived as a possible defense against ballistic missiles; now they are being developed for tactical military applications — and law enforcement
Twenty-four years ago, in a March 1983 speech, President Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), aiming to restore a more traditional balance between offensive and defensive military technologies and move mankind away from relying on Mutual Assured Destruction-based nuclear deterrence. Billions of dollars have been invested so far in the effort to build a defenses against ballistic missiles, with not much to show for the investment. One of the latest effort is the Airborne Laser system, which calls for a squadron of 747s to train chemically generated laser beams on ICBMs to knock them out long before they become a threat to targets in the United States. A test of the system is scheduled for 2009.
The U.S. military has also been interested in harnessing directed-energy weapons for more down-to-earth systems, and it is now working on a truck-mounted solid-state laser. The system aims to protect ground troops from smaller projectiles including rockets, artillery rounds, and mortar shells. Solid-state lasers have several advantages over their COIL (chemical oxygen iodine laser) counterparts, especially their smaller size and lighter weight (although solid-state laser packs less of a punch). The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command has enlisted Northrop Grumman and Boeing to compete for the contract to produce the ruggedized beam control system, a key component of what will become the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD). Northrop Grumman this week said it received an $8 million, one-year contract to do that work, followed in about a month by Boeing’s receipt of a $7 million deal to do the same. For both contractors, options could extend the programs to about $50 million.
The Space and Missile Defense Command is the lead agency for the Army’s high-energy solid-state laser program, the next phase of which is to boost the power capability from 25 kW to 100 kW. The BBC reported earlier this year that a solid-state laser in a lab set a record by reaching 67 kW. The laser engine itself is just one factor in the equation; Boeing and Northrop Grumman will also have to figure out how the sytem will work when mounted on one of the Army’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, or HEMTTs.
The army is interested in all kinds of directed energy weapons, and only two days ago AP ran an in-depth story on the Active Denial System (ADS), which uses millimeter waves to hit human targets with a scorching — but nonlethal — sensation of heat. For months, AP reports, military leaders have asked for the ADS, which is still in the prototype stage, to be deployed to Iraq to help quell civil disturbances, but the Pentagon, worried that the system could be seen as inhumane, has said no. The decision to wait on deploying ADS to Iraq is good news for Raytheon, as it gives the company the opportunity to promote its similar “Silent Guardian” system which, the company says, is ready to go.
-Read Ben Frankel’s analysis this coming Tuesday on the relationship between directed-energy weapons and international politics
