The Department of Defense is focusing its direct-energy weapons research on technologies ready for use now, overshadowing plans for more sophisticated space technologies, the Pentagon’s research chief said Wednesday.
Directed energy weapons use lasers, microwaves and particle beams to strike and destroy targets. A Direct Energy Weapon (DEW) is a long-range weapon that inflicts damage on a target with highly concentrated energy, including lasers, microwaves, particle beams, and sonic beams. Directed energy attacks use highly concentrated electromagnetic energy, including powerful radio frequency or microwave devices and particle beams, to strike targets.
Microwave weapons work differently, destroying or incapacitating targets’ electronics with a short burst of extremely powerful microwave radiation. Powerful microwave weapons such as the Raytheon system shown here are controlled to fry electronics for various purposes such as basic defense. The United States has developed microwave weapons to destroy drones or as non-lethal riot control devices. Show Source Texts
Now the US military needs a sensor that will alert soldiers when they are being attacked by a microwave weapon. The military is developing these technologies to protect against drone attacks. Potential applications for this technology include personnel-targeting weapons, missiles, vehicles, and optical devices. Show Source Texts
The company is also developing a scalable direct-action anti-UAV weapon for the Australian Defense Force, initially based on a 26-kilowatt continuous wave laser. Raytheon recently reported that the first high-energy laser weapon system was delivered this month. The Air Force has publicly announced plans to purchase two laser guns and a microwave oven from Raytheon. Both Phaser and laser weapons will be deployed overseas to try to shoot down drones, Air Force Magazine reported earlier this year.
The Missile Defense Agency plans to hold component demos to demonstrate the laser’s capabilities. The agency plans to conduct ground tests and demonstrations of neutral beam technologies, Hill said, with a focus on feasibility and refinement of the technologies before they are launched into space. The technology goes back to the Strategic Defense Initiative, said Deputy Director of the Missile Defense Agency Rear Admiral John Hill. Show Source Texts
The Pentagon wants to use neutral particle beam (NPB) weapons as a space-based antimissile system to dismantle ICBMs in the ejection phase immediately after takeoff. Neutral particle beam weapons will fire atomic particles at enemy platforms at nearly the speed of light. Show Source Texts
Using a laser to hit a missile means the laser doesn’t do collateral damage. Unlike a narrow laser beam, a microwave weapon spreads out in a cone shape, meaning it can hit multiple targets at the same time. This makes microwave weapons ideal for defending against large numbers of drones. Show Source Texts
The Vigilant Eagle is a proposed airfield defense system that directs high-frequency microwaves to any projectiles fired at aircraft. The U.S. Department of Defense (DHA) is looking for a wearable sensor that can detect radio frequency (RF) weapons that emit intense beams of electromagnetic energy, including microwaves. However, because RF weapons are largely unknown and untested, soldiers may not even know they are being attacked. During the Iraq War, electromagnetic weapons, including powerful microwaves, were used by the U.S. military to disrupt and destroy Iraqi electronic systems, and may be used to control unrest. Show Source Texts
Kelly Hammett said that during the week of October 20 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the Air Force tested five DE systems – four high-energy lasers and one powerful microwave oven – as anti-hydrogen weapons. The agency compares the RF weapons detector to the M8 and M9 cards used to detect the presence of chemical weapons.
Heitold said the Air Force needed the ability to quietly and quickly sabotage enemy systems without raising the alarm, an option offered by silent and invisible lasers. Lieutenant General William Etter also wants the laser to be small enough to be mounted on an aircraft, since F-22s or F-35s equipped with direct power could quickly reach any part of America threatened by incoming missiles. According to Todd Harrison, fewer missile defense satellites would be needed if they were armed with direct-fire weapons rather than kinetic interceptors, although the cost of a single system would likely be higher. Show Source Texts
Like Dhanush, James Acton suspects that the powerful laser weapon will be similar to China’s DF-21D and DF-26B anti-ship ballistic missiles. A service official told Defense News that the Indian military will receive a 100-kilowatt light-duty direct power system as part of a classified project known as DURGA II (Directed Unrestricted Ray Gun Array). The work follows a previous white paper committing A$730 million to research in targeted science and technology, including hypersonic weapons, advanced sensors and directed energy capabilities. Show Source Texts
Under the National Defense Authorization Act currently being debated in Congress, the Senate is deciding on a bill that would allow direct energy technologies to use rapid data collection channels to deploy capabilities more quickly. Griffin said that as part of a larger effort by the Pentagon to accelerate weapons programs and deploy them to the battlefield faster, direct energy testing must be accelerated so that researchers and developers can understand the complexities of the systems and how to improve them. The Pentagon will need to focus on direct energy and laser programs that can generate more energy, test and operate faster on space platforms and aircraft, Griffin said, adding that he is increasing its focus on high-power microwaves investment in research. Show Source Texts
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