Some common bio-effects of non-lethal electromagnetic weapons include: Interference with breathing poses the most significant, potentially lethal results. 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. Microwave electromagnetic weapons can also stun a victim. This technology delivers very high-frequency millimeter-wavelength electromagnetic rays that heat skin on contact, causing a painful burning sensation. 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. 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. Thermal blooming occurs in both charged and neutral particle beams, and occurs when particles bump into one another under the effects of thermal vibration, or bump into air molecules. Potential applications of this technology include weapons that target personnel, missiles, vehicles, and optical devices. National Defense University Boeing has received a C-130H transport aircraft from the Air Force and is modifying it for installation of the laser system. [1]On August 24, 2004, the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) system destroyed a salvo of mortar rounds in midair during a test. The technology is maturing rapidly, threats are emerging which directed energy can almost uniquely address, and the warfighters are signaling their support. The countries abandoned particle-beam weapon research as impracticable.[3]. 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. In contrast, ordinary visible light comprises multiple wavelengths and is not coherent. European Parliament In addition to the nuclear ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea, which can be defended by U.S. missile defense systems, there is a North Korean threat which cannot be defended against today. "Mobile/Tactical High Energy Laser (M-THEL) Technology Demonstration Program," Defense Update, at http://www.defense-update.com/directory/THEL.htm (March 10, 2006). Directed energy microwave weapons convert energy from a power source - a wall plug in a lab or the engine on a military vehicle - into radiated electromagnetic energy and focus it on a target . Moreover, cheap countermeasures can be applied to existing missiles. Directed energy weapons could have several main advantages over conventional weaponry: Some devices are described as microwave weapons; the microwave range is commonly defined as being between 300MHz and 300GHz (wavelengths of 1 meter to 1 millimeter), which is within the radiofrequency (RF) range. The Defense Department needs to establish clear guidelines for using the technology. 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 United States has the technology, the resources, the talent, and the infrastructure to develop and deploy directed energy weapons to meet todays and tomorrows emerging threats. In 2017, the Air Force Secretary and Chief of Staff signed the DE Flight Plan outlining the path ahead for the Air Force to develop and deploy both high-energy lasers and high-power RF weapons for its aircraft. Lieutenant General Henry Trey Obering, III, USAF (Ret. 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. A year later, testing showed that the ADS could produce effects at ranges beyond current small-arms range. The device combined two slightly different frequencies which when heard would be heard as the sum of the two frequencies (ultrasonic) and the difference between the two frequencies (infrasonic) e.g. A related project is the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) system, which uses a less powerful version of the ABL's COIL laser, instead of missiles, to attack ground targets. Directed energy weapons are among the high-tech arms of the century. HPM weapons lethality is typically described in terms of their ability to deny, degrade, damage or destroy a targets capabilities. Directed energy weapons, also known by the brand name Active Denial System, are a new technology developed by the U.S. military. In addition to being able to scale effects on a target, directed energy weapons have inherent attributes that are attractive to the warfighter. Particle beams would have tremendous power as weapons. Because the laser energy travels at the speed of light, lasers are particularly well-suited for use against moving targets such as rockets, missiles, and artillery projectiles. Directed energy weapons conjure up images of the Death Star's Superlaser or Optimus Prime's Ion Blaster. So, for a hypersonic weapon that is travelling at 25 times the speed of sound, a high- energy laser can engage it at roughly 35,000 times its speed. The full system will be fitted to the aircraft by 2007 and test-fired against ground targets. 2 According to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. They built an electron accelerator called Rheotron to generate hard X-ray synchrotron beams for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM). [48], Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project, A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers.[50]. Laser light can be produced by a number of different methods, ranging from rods of chemically doped glass to energetic chemical reactions to semiconductors. High-power microwave (HPM) weapons work by producing either beams or short bursts of high-frequency radio energy. 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]. The system generates a focused beam of energy at the frequency of 95 gigahertz. The Phaser | December 6, 2022 Q NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022. They will be deployed on land vehicles, aircraft, helicopters, and ships. In the 1951 science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, powerful ray guns are shown vaporizing rifles and even tanks. A prototype ADS system mounted on a Humvee went into testing in August 2005.[22]. 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. And of course, lasers employed at higher altitudes or in space would have very little to no atmospheric affects. DEWs use the electromagnetic spectrum (light and radio energy) to attack pinpoint targets at the speed of light. Depending on the type of laser, this means that the weapon can have an almost "endless magazine" of laser bursts. 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. Electrolasers make use of laser bloom, a normally undesired effect. 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. There is no silver bullet defense against these weapons and in fact there will have to be an architectural approach in defending against them, but directed energy weapons can potentially play a major role. High-power microwave (HPM) and high-power millimeter wave weapons emit beams of electromagnetic energy typically from about 10 megahertz to the 100 gigahertz frequency range. They are real and are maturing rapidly. This concentrated energy can have effects across the entire spectrum from non-lethal to lethal. The device emits separate electromagnetic pulses to suppress navigation and transmission channels used to operate an aerial drone, terminating the drone's contact with its operator; the out-of-control drone then crashes. The Beacon Illuminator Laser system, which measures and corrects for atmospheric distortion, has also been shipped to Boeing for testing. For example, as mentioned earlier, directed energy weapons development can take advantage of progress being made in commercial industry around processors, power generation and management and even lasers subsystems themselves. The MARAUDER (Magnetically Accelerated Ring to Achieve Ultra-high Directed-Energy and Radiation) used the Shiva Star project (a high energy capacitor bank which provided the means to test weapons and other devices requiring brief and extremely large amounts of energy) to accelerate a toroid of plasma at a significant percentage of the speed of light. can affect a lasers performance but there are ways to address these phenomena. There is no injury to the target individual. X-ray lasers may be possible in the not too distant future. 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. [15]Colonel Craig Hughes, Office of Force Transformation, U.S. Department of Defense, "Re-directed Energy: the Tactical Relay Mirror System," presentation at The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., February 13, 2006. What are Directed Energy Weapons? Thus, the deny capability is not permanent because the affected systems can be easily restored to their previous operational condition. 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. LRAD systems are used for long-range communications in a variety of applications[53] and as a means of non-lethal, non-projectile crowd control. It was a psychological warfare method which could involve the group based and systematic gaslighting of targets, among other things. [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 SOR's world-class adaptive optics telescope is the second largest telescope in the Department of Defense. A DE weapon is a system using DE primarily as a direct means to Laser beams also lose energy through absorption or scattering if fired through dust, smoke, or rain. [citation needed], Another approach was Ernst Schiebolds 'Rntgenkanone' developed from 1943 in Groostheim near Aschaffenburg. A composite image of a satellite firing an energy weapon at a target on Earth. 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. 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