Directed-energy weapons keep on truckin'

In its quest to develop laser weapons, the Pentagon is aiming both high and low.

The sky-high plans for the Airborne Laser call for a squadron of 747s that would train chemically generated laser beams on ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) to knock out those missiles long before they become a threat to targets in the United States. A "lethality" test of that system is scheduled for 2009, though if past delays are any indication of future performance...

A solid-state laser does its thing under the watchful eye of a Northrop Grumman engineer. At its new Directed Energy Production Facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., the defense contractor aims to build a 100-kW device that can be used on the battlefield.

(Credit: Northrop Grumman)

For a more down-to-earth system, look no further than a truck-mounted solid-state laser now in the early stages of development. Rather than intercontinental missiles, this system would protect ground troops from smaller projectiles including rockets, artillery rounds and mortar shells. Advantages that solid-state lasers have over their COIL (chemical oxygen iodine laser) counterparts include smaller size and lighter weight--there's a reason that the Airborne Laser requires a 747--and the avoidance of big doses of toxic materials. COIL systems pack a bigger punch, however.

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command has enlisted two defense sector heavyweights to vie with each other 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. (According to a report from the BBC earlier this year, a solid-state laser in a lab set a record by reaching 67 kW.)

But the laser engine itself is just one factor in a very challenging equation; what Boeing and Northrop Grumman will have to wrestle with is getting it to work when mounted on one of the Army's Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, or HEMTTs.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the truck-mounted directed-energy beat, the Associated Press on Wednesday ran an in-depth story on the Active Denial System, which uses millimeter waves to blast human targets with a scorching--but nonlethal--sensation of heat. For months, the 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 repeatedly said no.

If the Defense Department continues to stall for a more favorable moment, that may give Raytheon the opportunity to pitch its similar "Silent Guardian" system (it has one ready to go), the AP says.

Politics aside, directed-energy weapons still are in their infancy. As Thomas Killion, chief scientist of the Army, told News.com last month, "It's still a very hard technical problem. We are working hard to make this a reality--it's going to take some time."

[DFingles]

Energy Weapons for the Home?

Hey, when are they going to release this for the public? I've got
some pesky moles that just don't want to leave, and a deer that
keeps eating our bushes... Seriously, it would make a great
electronic "fence" to keep out trespassers and reduce or eliminate
the cost of miles of chain link and razor wire at various secure
facilities. However, with my luck my wife would buy one...

[Stating]

A Guy In A Cave Will Defeat This

Haven't we learned anything from the past 7 years? A guy in a cave with an obsession will defeat these labratory eggheads with their trillion dollar budgets.

I guess it doesn't really matter if your real business is selling cost plus technology.

[inachu]

This will not be used on enemy combatants.

These energy weapons will be/are tested in IRAQ and used on USA citizens when USA becomes an entire police state.

The only use for the directed energy weapons use is for crowd control and when we USA citizen will riot when the USA govt will not listen to our voice then yes the powers that be will turn on us instead of listening to us.

[adot44]

yes, agreed...

...so just as we learn to build our own radio equipment and computers, write our own software and fix our own houses, cars and such, we need to start caring about our own security and freedom and if they won't let us buy these things, or if they sell us dumbed-down versions or versions that can be disabled by the powers-that-be (as appears to be the case with Microsoft's latest operating system, yikes!), we need to take charge of our lives and our freedom, and strive to be as independent as possible of our government and our corporations. This country is by and large full of people who unfortunately do not care about, much less care TO defend the freedom they enjoy. When (not if) our government eventually takes liberties it is not entitled to (as it has to a great degree already), it is the right and duty of the good citizens of this country to ensure the government is not allowed to continue unchecked and take more and more power until we come to enjoy exactly what we fled as a fledgling nation and what we continue to war against to this day (the abuse of governmental authority). Make no mistake, power corrupts. This news unsettles me, because I see it is going to be yet another of the resources/weapons the government has that the private citizens have nothing to match, and sadly in great majority do not care about. Those who truly care to defend their freedom from ANYONE AND EVERYONE (even our own governing representatives) who would take it from them will be exposed in the inevitable day, and may become the last recourse the masses have against the eventual tyranny of our leader(s), who gain more power continually. I do not at all believe that many, if any, of our current leaders (except perhaps a certain female Clinton and a few others) even have dreams of revolutionizing our government, but the stage is set for a change, and not one for the better. I would call on all citizens who value their God-given liberty to make ready and stay ready to defend themselves, their families, their friends and neighbors, and the ideals of this great nation when the need arises, but alas I am only a disenfranchised 17-year-old. Hear, all who will! Weigh the wisdom of my words for yourself. Study history, for those who will not learn from it are doomed to repeat it. Don't think that this nation, this world, is too modern for a bloody revolution, the Ancient Egyptians, the Athenians, the Romans, the British and many others all had similar thoughts, and - look for yourself what came of it. In particular the Romans, who enjoyed a very similar society, fell from it in the life of ONE MAN called Julius Caesar. I pray that neither I nor my children will see the end of this praiseworthy, glorious experiment in liberty, but I for one intend to fight it's death as I must, depending only on God, who will not turn against those who serve Him, and striving for true freedom. May all live well and find true truth, and grow in the knowledge and love of God.

[hdubya]

Tinfoil hats

Your tinfoil hat will protect you.