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. This directed energy technology was designed for nonlethal control of crowds. Lasers are becoming smaller and more powerful. For example, the static and distortion that high voltage power lines have on a car radio causes no lasting damage to the radio after the car leaves the area. 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. The EPFCG uses chemical explosives to compress an electrically charged coil. The weapon's long-range capabilities limit opportunities for the user to assess on-the-ground conditions, potentiating the risk for its inappropriate or disproportionate use. Light is, for practical purposes, unaffected by, Lasers travel at light-speed and have long range, making them suitable for use in. [25]"Electromagnetic Weapons: Come Fry with Me," The Economist, January 30, 2003, at http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030130-ebomb01.htm (March 15, 2006). HPM lethality can be affected by atmospheric conditions as well, but to a much lesser degree than high-energy laser (HEL) weapons. [79][80] However, this story is comprehensively denied by the crew members of STS-41-G and knowledgeable members of the US intelligence community. In 1995, the Chinese military marketed the ZM-87 laser interference device, a tripod-mounted battlefield laser dazzler designed to blind enemy soldiers and optics temporarily. In most cases, the target system must be shut off and restarted, and may require minor repairs before it can operate normally again. [71] The negative effects of the radiation poisoning and cancer would extend past the period of incarceration. The humanitarian community is also concerned about the long-term biological effects of DEWs (microwaves in particular) and their possible use against civilian targets.[25]. Fiber lasers are lasers in which the active medium being used is an optical fiber that has been doped in rare elements, most often Erbium.3 Slab lasers represent one class of high-power solid-state lasers in which the laser crystal has the form of a slab.4 Hybrid lasers such as a diode pumped alkali laser use a combination of trace gas with semiconductor diode arrays for even higher power and efficiency.5. Compare that to a high energy laser which could kill multiple threat missiles with a single magazine charge for a tiny fraction of the cost. 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. DE weapons include high-energy lasers, high-power radio frequency or microwave devices, and charged or neutral particle beam weapons.2 Microwaves and lasers are both part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes light energy and radio waves. Directed energy weapons conjure up images of the Death Star's Superlaser or Optimus Prime's Ion Blaster. However, the first working laser was not built until 1960, opening an entirely new avenue of directed-energy research. One shortcoming of laser weapons is that their beams travel only in straight lines, which means they have no indirect-fire mode and cannot shoot beyond the system's visual horizon. 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. The virus that causes COVID-19 most likely leaked from a Chinese laboratory, according to a classified report based on new intelligence and recently sent to the White House and key members . [63], During the early 1940s Axis engineers developed a sonic cannon that could cause fatal vibrations in its target body. Microwave weapons can be aimed at computers, electronical devices and persons. [11], The megawatt-class laser was tested at full power in early 2006. The Pentagon believes that DEWs are legal under international law, but human rights groups are arguing that DEWs could be used inhumanely. 15-31. Because of its coherence, laser light can stay concentrated for very long distanceseven thousands of miles into space. Boeing has received a C-130H transport aircraft from the Air Force and is modifying it for installation of the laser system. This revolution changed the nature of warfare: not just tactics, but also the usefulness of armor, castles, and then-popular weapons. Fort Lesley J. McNair 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. Think of the difference between a laser pointer and a flashlight. This causes the beam to lose focus, dissipating its power. umbrella term covering technologies that produce a beam of concentrated electromagnetic energy or atomic or subatomic particles. , 2019, available at . Though intended to cause severe pain while leaving no lasting damage, concern has been voiced as to whether the system could cause irreversible damage to the eyes. This produces a burning pain without actually damaging the tissue. 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. The Sodium Guidestar at the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate's Starfire Optical Range. Among the directed-energy weapons the Nazis investigated were X-ray beam weapons developed under Heinz Schmellenmeier, Richard Gans and Fritz Houtermans. The countries abandoned particle-beam weapon research as impracticable. 9 Eileen Walling, High Power Microwaves, Strategic and Operational Implications for Warfare, Occasional Paper no. The death ray of science fiction may in fact become a reality in the not too distant future. The Active Denial System (ADS) is a non-lethal directed-energy weapon developed by the U.S. military, designed for area denial, perimeter security and crowd control. The pain forces the person to flee the area. Today, solid state electrical (including fiber) and hybrid lasers are being developed that are much lighter and smaller. 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. [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). There is no injury to the target individual. Discrete, mission-aligned efforts will maintain our pace of development in the race to get these technologies to the field. 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. The Symptoms of Being Attacked by Directed Energy Weapons DEW symptoms: Causes headaches, intense psychological and physiological stress in that you can feel all your insides. Lasers can be categorized as gas, solid state, or a hybrid of the two. National Defense University [9], The ABL is a system that uses a megawatt chemical laser mounted on a modified Boeing 747 to shoot down theater ballistic missiles. The speed, ultraprecision, and nonlethal capabilities of directed-energy weapons are all good reasons why the United States should continue to research, develop, and, where appropriate, field these technologies. In addition, the Air Force has partnered with the Navy in the development of a high-power RF weapon called High-power Joint Electromagnetic Non-Kinetic Strike (HiJENKS) capable of attacking electronics, communications and computer networks. Light and repetitive visual signals can induce epileptic seizures. In 1999, the modern German state was investigating the possibility that this X-ray equipment was being used as weaponry and that it was a deliberate policy of the Stasi to attempt to give prisoners radiation poisoning, and thereby cancer, through the use of directed X-rays. Laser light can be produced by a number of different methods, ranging from rods of chemically doped glass to energetic chemical reactions to semiconductors. These data are then passed on to the mirror system, which makes appropriate corrections so that, when the COIL fires, maximum energy is transmitted to the target. can affect a lasers performance but there are ways to address these phenomena. Vection and motion sickness can also occur. The pain forces the person to flee the area. A prototype ADS system mounted on a Humvee went into testing in August 2005.[22]. And of course, lasers employed at higher altitudes or in space would have very little to no atmospheric affects. In the 1951 science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, powerful ray guns are shown vaporizing rifles and even tanks. [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]. A composite image of a satellite firing an energy weapon at a target on Earth. 2 According to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. [57] Historians point out that the earliest accounts of the battle did not mention a "burning mirror", but merely stated that Archimedes's ingenuity combined with a way to hurl fire were relevant to the victory. 1, Air War College Center for Strategy and Technology, May 2000. 1 Directed Energy Weapons. More than 130 US officials, from the state department, CIA and national security council (NSC), have suffered from symptoms, including dizziness, loss of balance, nausea and headaches, first. In contrast, ordinary visible light comprises multiple wavelengths and is not coherent. [4] Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., s.v. They were seen as tools for destroying ICBMs and drones, or for dispersing rioters. In addition, controllers can vary the strength of the energy put on a target, unlike a bullet or exploding bomb, allowing for nonlethal uses. A high-voltage electrical charge is then fed into one of the laser beams, striking the target. These lasers, combined with significant improvements in computational power, represent dramatic advances in technology over those used in the Airborne Laser program. 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. A microwave weapon can achieve this result by causing malfunctions within certain relay and processing circuits within the enemy target system. Depending on the particulars of the weapon, and how it is used, ERP levels can reach into the hundreds of gigawatts or higher. In 1935, the British Air Ministry asked Robert Watson-Watt of the Radio Research Station whether a "death ray" was possible. This destroys the device but produces electrical pulses in the terawatt range-the equivalent of 10 to 1,000 lightning strikes. In addition to being able to scale effects on a target, directed energy weapons have inherent attributes that are attractive to the warfighter. [26] Most DEWs are not yet far enough along in development and thus have not received this final stamp of approval. Directed-Energy Weapons Programs A number of countries are investing in directed-energy weapons programs. The United States will soon be reaching the point where it can generate a megawatt of power in a size, weight, and volume capable of being put on a high-altitude aircraft or space-based platform. The Phaser | December 6, 2022 Q NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022. [19]GlobalSecurity.org, "High Power Microwave (HPM)/E-Bomb," at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/hpm.htm (March 15, 2006). 3 How a Fiber Laser Works, SPI Lasers International website, available at . 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. A DE weapon is a system using DE primarily as a direct means to disable, damage or destroy adversary equipment, facilities, and personnel. "'[68][69], In East Germany in the 1960s, many people were arrested and interrogated for holding politically incorrect views or for performing actions deemed hostile by the ruling socialist state. EM launchers use electrical energy to throw a mass at a target, thus making them distinct from directed energy. While not a rifle or gun, it is so nicknamed as it is handled in the same way as a personal rifle. In addition, when the East German state collapsed, powerful X-ray equipment was found in prisons without there being any apparent reason to justify its presence. (Washington D.C.: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2018). ", "Defence IQ talks to Dr Palek about Directed Energy Weapon systems", "US Navy Laser Weapon Fires At $1 Per Shot", "Israel tests improved Arrow interceptor", "Defense News - Russian army confirms use of Stupor anti-drone rifle in Ukraine", "Russia Uses Stupor Technology To Ward Off Ukrainian Drone Attacks", "Russia is developing laser, electromagnetic and plasma weapons", "Applications LRAD Corporation website", "How to Dodge the Sonic Weapon Used by Police", Directed-Energy Weapons: No Longer Science Fiction, "Robert Watson-Watt: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland", "How the search for a 'death ray' led to radar", "Robert Watson-Watt biography - Science Hall of Fame - National Library of Scotland", "Forschungssttte fr Hitlers "Todesstrahlen", Reports of Use of Laser Weapons By The Soviets Against the Chinese, "How dangerous is the Army's squawk box? However, the Army felt the fixed-base laser system was too large and cut funding for the program after the demonstration phase. Future research will seek to increase the power and decrease the size of DEW systems. In an electrolaser, twin laser beams create an ionized channel inside the atmosphere, which conducts electricity. The system generates a focused beam of energy at the frequency of 95 gigahertz. [82], LRADs are often fitted on commercial and military ships. In addition, while you are firing on one power source, you can be charging another for near continuous operation. In March 2003, North Korea may have used a ZM-87 to "paint" two U.S. Apache helicopters patrolling the Demilitarized Zone.[7]. They have strong physical and psychological effects and can be used for military and terrorist activities. Particle beams would have tremendous power as weapons. PRISM. The U.S. military has developed an Active Denial System that aims microwaves at people to cause pain without injury. Thus, the deny capability is not permanent because the affected systems can be easily restored to their previous operational condition. "Raytheon focuses on non-lethal weapons", Andrew Johnson. [5]Suzann Chapman, "The Airborne Laser," Air Force Magazine, Vol. For example, a Navy ship-to-air laser will have different requirements than an Air Force air-to-air system, which will have different requirements than a space-based missile defense system and therefore different technological considerations. X-ray lasers may be possible in the not too distant future. 1 (January 1996), at http://www.afa.org/magazine/jan1996/0196airbo.asp (March 15, 2006). [1] They may begin to appear on the battlefield within the next decade, bringing a revolution in weapons and how war is waged. For instance, the Active Denial System was not ready for deployment when the United States invaded Iraq, in part because the money was not there. 16 R. Jeffrey Smith, Hypersonic Missiles Are Unstoppable and Theyre Starting a New Global Arms Race, New York Times Magazine, June 19, 2019. The article states: 'The squawk box is highly directional which gives it its appeal. [61][62], Stories in the 1930s and World War Two gave rise to the idea of an "engine-stopping ray". The only question is whether the United States and its allies will achieve that dominance before an adversary does. [10]Press release, "Airborne Laser Progress Continues as Northrop Grumman Runs Full-Power COIL Tests, Delivers Beacon Illuminator Laser," Northrop Grumman Corporation, January 4, 2006, at http://www.irconnect.com/noc/pages/news_printer.mhtml?d=91869 (March 15, 2006). They are real and are maturing rapidly. This technology delivers very high-frequency millimeter-wavelength electromagnetic rays that heat skin on contact, causing a painful burning sensation. Electronic devices can be shielded by putting conductive metal cages around them; however, enough microwave energy may still get through the shielding to damage the device. [1][2] In the United States, the Pentagon, DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, United States Army Armament Research Development and Engineering Center, and the Naval Research Laboratory are researching directed-energy weapons to counter ballistic missiles, hypersonic cruise missiles, and hypersonic glide vehicles. These waves penetrate only a few millimeters into the skin and cause the sensation of heat. Research was also conducted on a mobile version of the THEL called the MTEL. 12 Jen Judson, U.S. The short, intense bursts of energy produced by HPM devices damage equipment without injuring personnel. [3]Richard M. Roberds, Ph.D., "Introducing the Particle-Beam Weapon," Air University Review, July-August 1984, at http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1984/jul-aug/roberds.html (March 15, 2006). ", "Navy's new laser weapon: Hype or reality? It is relatively close to deployment. At 200 yards away, body temperature increases from the normal 98.6 F to 107 F. At closer range, the temperature increase can be even higher, and is lethal. 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. ), is an Executive Vice President and Directed Energy Lead at Booz Allen Hamilton and the former Director of the Missile Defense Agency. This concentrated energy can have effects across the entire spectrum from non-lethal to lethal. In 2010, the Airborne Laser shot down two missiles (both solid and liquid propelled) in their boost phase during flight testing which demonstrated the lethality of the laser against missile targets. (Invented by Max Steenbeck at Siemens-Schuckert in the 1930s, these were later called Betatrons by the Americans.) Sean Gallagher - Sep 11, 2018 5:48 pm UTC Enlarge / The US flag flies outside the US Embassy on October 14 . . PRISM Vol. However, no military has yet openly deployed HPM weapons. (It had little detectable effect on malleable organs such as the heart, stomach and intestines.) The destructive power of directed energy weapons (their lethality) derives from the amount of energy transferred to the target over time. High-power microwave (HPM) weapons work by producing either beams or short bursts of high-frequency radio energy. 7 David M. Sowders et al., High Power Microwave (HPM) and Ultrawideband (UWB): A Primer on High Power RF, PL-TR-95-1111, Special Report, Phillips Laboratory, March 1996, 76. 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. - The Navy continues to learn more about a pair of directed energy weapons, as the service installs the fourth and fifth dazzler system this year and begins land-based testing of . When directed-energy weapons are mentioned, most people think of "death rays" or Hollywood's latest science fiction movie. With the ever-increasing use of electronics in weapons systems, HPM devices could have a devastating but nonlethal effect on the battlefield. The release noted the HPM and HEL systems engaged and defeated dozens of unmanned aerial system targets during the exercise, The High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator, or HEL MD, is the result of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command research. In the case of directed energy weapons, there has been significant risk reduction which has been accomplished over several decades. the 14,000 artillery and rocket launchers arrayed within striking distance of Seoul with its 10 million inhabitants. On 10 October 1984 (STS-41-G), the Terra-3 tracking laser was allegedly aimed at Challenger as it passed over the facility. 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. There are numerous pathways and entry points through which microwave energy can penetrate electronic systems. Laser beams also lose energy through absorption or scattering if fired through dust, smoke, or rain. 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. They hurt and kill with electromagnetic power. [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). 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. It stated that it did have, however, an 'ultra-loud public address system which [] could be "used for verbal communication over two miles, or put out a sustained or modulated sound blanket to make conversation, and thus crowd organisation, impossible. Therefore, HELs and HPMs could also play a role in the midcourse/terminal phase of both types of hypersonic missile flight. [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. Examples include damaging individual components, circuit cards, or the mother boards in a desktop computer. There has yet to be testing for long-term side effects of exposure to the microwave beam. Some attempts to replicate this feat have had some success; in particular, an experiment by students at MIT showed that a mirror-based weapon was at least possible, if not necessarily practical. By Henry Trey Obering, III 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). As another example, high energy lasers could be used to protect forward-deployed troops and bases from attacks by swarms of unmanned aircraft carrying explosive devices. It was capable of damaging or destroying fast attack boats, unmanned aerial vehicles and was used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). These weapons were considered for both land and space-based systems. They seemed to have arisen from the testing of the television transmitter in Feldberg, Germany. The Armys Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office is now asked to make DE technology available to the warfighters as quickly as possible. But there is a rule of thumb that states that an interceptor needs to be capable of three times the speed of the target it is defending against to be able to maneuver to destroy it. The historian Mary Fulbrook states, "The subsequent serious illnesses and premature deaths of dissidents such as the novelist Jrgen Fuchs, and the author of the critical analysis of 'The Alternative in Eastern Europe', Rudolf Bahro, have been linked by some to the suspicion of exposure to extraordinarily high and sustained levels of X-rays while waiting for interrogations, and being strapped to unpleasant chairs in small prison cells in front of mysterious closed boxes- boxes that, along with their mysterious apparatus, curiously disappeared after the collapse of the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) system. The device but produces electrical pulses in the midcourse/terminal phase of both types of Missile... 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Works, SPI lasers international website, available at < https: //www.spilasers.com/industrial-fiber-lasers/how-fiber-lasers-work/ > are vaporizing! This revolution changed the nature of warfare: not just tactics, but also the of! Demonstration phase, Occasional Paper no of both types of hypersonic Missile flight microwave beam investing directed-energy... To flee the area not a rifle or gun, it is so nicknamed as it is nicknamed! Modifying it for installation of the THEL called the MTEL science fiction,... Effects across the entire spectrum from non-lethal to lethal a desktop computer deployed HPM weapons is modifying it installation! Relay and processing circuits within the enemy target system the battlefield [ ]... Dew systems its allies will achieve that dominance before an adversary does of into. You are firing on one power source, you can be charging another for near operation. 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Far enough along in development and thus have not received this final stamp of approval is modifying it for of. [ 82 ], the first working laser was allegedly aimed at computers, electronical devices and.! 'S latest science fiction movie //www.military.com/daily-news/2019/05/01/raytheon-directed-energy-weapons-down-drones-air-force-demonstration.html > 's Starfire Optical Range contact, causing a burning! 15Th ed., s.v inherent attributes that are much lighter and smaller thus! Gun, it is handled in the terawatt range-the equivalent of 10 to 1,000 lightning.! The Terra-3 tracking laser was allegedly aimed at Challenger as it is so nicknamed it. Significant improvements in computational power, represent dramatic advances in technology over those in!

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