[54] They range in size from small, portable handheld units which can be strapped to a person's chest, to larger models which require a mount. 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. Therefore, HELs and HPMs could also play a role in the midcourse/terminal phase of both types of hypersonic missile flight. European Parliament True support for a program is often best measured by the resources that an organization is willing to devote to it. However, directed-energy weapons (DEWs) are a reality, and several have already been tested under battlefield conditions. Laser beams also lose energy through absorption or scattering if fired through dust, smoke, or rain. So hypersonic kinetic interceptors would have to be capable of achieving speeds of Mach 15 and higher. Researchers with AFRL use the Guidestar laser for real-time, high-fidelity tracking and imaging of satellites too faint for conventional adaptive optical imaging systems. They are not the answer to all the challenges, and will not replace kinetic weapons, but they are an essential adjunct to countering specific threats and providing dominance in land, air, sea, and space. Neither should we. [48], Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project, A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers.[50]. [18]Carlo Kopp, "The Electromagnetic Bomb-A Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction," at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1996/apjemp.htm (March 15, 2006). Lasers produce narrow, single-frequency (i.e., single-color), coherent beams of light that are much more powerful than ordinary light sources. 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. Since 1999 those weapons have been upgraded for another 13 years. How 'Revolutionary' Is CHAMP, New Air Force Microwave Weapon? In this case, the enemy would be required to totally replace entire systems, facilities, and hardware if it was to regain any degree of operational status.9. HPM weapon technology is based on the same technology as radar devices, which already have a long history of research and development. DEWs send energy, instead of matter, toward a target, and can be separated into three types: laser weapons, particle-beam weapons, and high-power microwave (HPM) or ra-dio-frequency (RF) weapons. When they return to their normal or ground state, the electrons emit photons (particles of light). [49], Both Russia and Ukraine are reported to use these devices during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. 11, Air War College Center for Strategy and Technology, May 2000. Such arrests, which could also involve direct physical torture, were condemned internationally. Fort Lesley J. McNair The short, intense bursts of energy produced by HPM devices damage equipment without injuring personnel. On 10 October 1984 (STS-41-G), the Terra-3 tracking laser was allegedly aimed at Challenger as it passed over the facility. Retrieved 2010-01-04. In addition, a laser shot (including the cost of producing the energy) is much cheaper than a shot from a chemical-powered weapon system. This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 22:00. This laser would be megawatt class and have a range of hundreds of miles. These weapons were considered for both land and space-based systems. getty. The EPFCG uses chemical explosives to compress an electrically charged coil. The SOR's world-class adaptive optics telescope is the second largest telescope in the Department of Defense. 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. [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. 3. Weapons that go beyond non-lethal intentions and cause 'superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering' may also violate the Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977."[87]. 2 According to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Loading. [39] It was announced by Raytheon in 2005, and the effectiveness of its waveforms was reported to have been demonstrated in field tests to be highly effective in defeating MANPADS missiles.[40]. The THEL system uses radar to detect and track incoming targets. Not only could they be used to defend against ballistic missiles in the boost/ascent and midcourse phase, but they could also be used to defend critical space-based assets against enemy anti-satellite attack. to reduce size, weight, and power required to operate these weapons. [8], In August 2004, the THEL system shot down multiple mortar rounds during testing. 13 Todd South, Soldiers in Europe are now Using Lasers to Shoot Down Drones, ArmyTimes.com, February 8, 2018, available at < https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/02/28/soldiers-in-europe-are-now-using-lasers-to-shoot-down-drones/>. Magnus Karlsson (2009). 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. Are these weapons still science fiction, lab experiments, or are they real? Certain types of particle beams have the advantage of being self-focusing in the atmosphere. This revolution changed the nature of warfare: not just tactics, but also the usefulness of armor, castles, and then-popular weapons. Additional information on How Lasers Work, is available on the Lawrence Livermore National Lab website, . 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. A DE weapon is a system using DE primarily as a direct means to disable, damage or destroy adversary equipment, facilities, and personnel. 1 Department of Defense Joint Publication 3-13.1, Electronic Warfare (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2012). DEW technology is changing faster than international laws and treaties can adapt. According to DODs Joint Publication 313 Electronic Warfare, directed energy (DE) is described as an: umbrella term covering technologies that produce a beam of concentrated electromagnetic energy or atomic or subatomic particles. General DOD policy is that directed-energy weapons can be used legitimately on the battlefield. Lasers are becoming smaller and more powerful. As the Pentagon addresses these issues, it should do so in the same way that it would for any other category of weapon that it has reviewed. By Henry Trey Obering, III
This technology delivers very high-frequency millimeter-wavelength electromagnetic rays that heat skin on contact, causing a painful burning sensation. [3], China,[4][5][6][7] France,[8][9][10][11] Germany,[8][9] the United Kingdom,[12][13] Russia,[14][15][16] India,[17][18][19] and Pakistan[20][21][22] are also developing military-grade directed-energy weapons, while Iran[23][24][25][26] and Turkey claim to have them in active service. They will be deployed on land vehicles, aircraft, helicopters, and ships. While some uses may be illegal (e.g., targeting an unarmed civilian who in no way poses a threat), other uses are just as assuredly legal and legitimate. For example, in 2005 the cruise liner Seabourn Spirit used a sonic weapon to defend itself from Somali pirates in the Indian ocean. [84][85], The TECOM Technology Symposium in 1997 concluded on non-lethal weapons, "determining the target effects on personnel is the greatest challenge to the testing community", primarily because "the potential of injury and death severely limits human tests". In most cases, the target system must be shut off and restarted, and may require minor repairs before it can operate normally again. This makes targeting and tracking easier as well. Weapons designed to cause undue suffering are banned under the Geneva Convention, and human rights groups argue that directed-energy weapons raise a host of new legal and moral concerns. [15], Written off as impractical during World War II, technological advances have now made microwave weapons feasible. Millimeter waveband energy can penetrate human skin to a very shallow depth, heating the tissue below. A subset of HPM devices can affect the human body. [14]Press release, "Boeing Receives Aircraft for Laser Gunship Program," Boeing, January 23, 2006, at http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2006/q1/060123a_nr.html (March 15, 2006). However, risks, challenges and limitations remain. Space-based lasers would have a profound impact on the U.S. ability to defend and if necessary, fight in space. 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). The MDT is a fixed grid of passive infrared (IR) cameras. But again, there are major advances in these areas being made especially with the technology that has been developing in the electric car industry. On August 24, 2004, the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) system destroyed a salvo of mortar rounds in midair during a test. from PrayingMedic: Q NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 VIDEO: [47], A weapon often described as an "anti-drone rifle" or "anti-drone gun" is a battery-powered electromagnetic pulse weapon held to an operator's shoulder, pointed at a flying target in a way similar to a rifle, and operated. From the Stone Age until the Middle Ages, a weapon's power was limited by the strength of the man wielding it or, in the case of bows, by the strength of material from which it was made. According to DOD's Joint Publication 3-13 Electronic Warfare, directed energy (DE) is described as an; umbrella term covering technologies that produce a beam of concentrated electromagnetic energy or atomic or subatomic particles. 14 Oriana Powlyk, Raytheon Directed-Energy Weapons Down Drones in Air Force Demonstration, Military.com, May 1, 2019, available at . The United States has come a very long way in the development of directed energy weapon capabilities and is now at a critical juncture. There are numerous pathways and entry points through which microwave energy can penetrate electronic systems. The Beacon Illuminator Laser system, which measures and corrects for atmospheric distortion, has also been shipped to Boeing for testing. The laser is being built and will be tested in mid-2006. These photons are all at the same wavelength and are coherent, meaning the crests and troughs of the light waves are all in lockstep. During the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union studied the possibility of creating particle-beam weapons, which fire streams of electrons, protons, neutrons, or even neutral hydrogen atoms. During the Iraq War, electromagnetic weapons, including high power microwaves, were used by the U.S. military to disrupt and destroy Iraqi electronic systems and may have been used for crowd control. These devices have also been demonstrated to stall or damage car, truck, or boat motors. They have been used on several occasions to repel pirate attacks by sending warnings and by producing intolerable levels of sound. The system consists of a missile-detecting and tracking subsystem (MDT), a command and control system, and a scanning array. [46] Potentially lethal effects are produced only inside 100 meters range, and disruptive effects at distances on the order of one kilometer. The power levels are driven by prime power generation limitations, and ERPs depend on the antenna design and aperture (i.e., size).6, Almost everyone has probably experienced the lethality of a microwave device when they inadvertently put a metal object into a kitchen microwave oven and watched the sparks fly. This same energy can be applied at higher powers for weapon effects. [42][43][44], The effective radiated power (ERP) of the EL/M-2080 Green Pine radar makes it a hypothetical candidate for conversion into a directed-energy weapon, by focusing pulses of radar energy on target missiles. These waves penetrate only a few millimeters into the skin and cause the sensation of heat. The Air Force also recently demonstrated the ability of an HPM weapon to bring down multiple drones in testing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, according to a recent Military.com article: After decades of research and investment, we believe these advanced directed-energy applications will soon be ready for the battlefield to help protect people, assets and infrastructure. Thomas Bussing, Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president, said in a news release accompanying the announcement. In this manner someone could be debilitated even though they were no longer imprisoned. On land, this includes base defense, where DE can provide a deep magazine, long-range engagement, and low cost-per-shot against proliferated threats. These systems of missile defense are expected to come online no sooner than the mid to late-2020s. -13.1, Electronic Warfare (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2012). The word laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. This also includes fundamental differences such as the wavelength of the lasers and the beam quality required for success. 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. When directed-energy weapons are mentioned, most people think of "death rays" or Hollywood's latest science fiction movie. The skin of the missile heats up, melts, and deforms, and the target breaks up in midair. 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