Directed-Energy Weapon DEW

Basically 

wipe out the enemy without getting too dirty. HOW!!?

• Directed energy weapons take many forms.  From EMP (electromagnetic pulses) to HPM (high powered microwaves), several weaponized forms of Radio Frequency are being developed.
• Controlling the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is a major asset in military operations.
• Modern weapons systems employ radio, radar, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, electro-optical, and laser technologies.

The idea of using light as a weapon can be traced back to Hippocrates, commander of the Greek forces in 212 B.C. His forces supposedly set fire to the sails of the Roman 

fleet by focusing sunlight with mirrors. Weapons systems based on lasers and “ray guns,” 

long a staple of science fiction, have captured the imagination of people everywhere. But 

with steady progress toward the development of lasers in the last 40 years, viable, stateof-the-art laser weapon systems have now become a reality.

"The Russians and the Chinese have designed specific electronic warfare platforms to go after all our high-value assets," said Lieutenant General Herbert Carlisle, the Air Force's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, as reported by Aviation Week.

The U.S. military is developing cyber-capabilities to gain a tactical edge.

Electronic warfare consists of three subdivisions: electronic attack, electronic protection, and electronic warfare support.

According to U.S. military doctrine for electronic warfare planning, electronic attack (EA) involves "the use of electromagnetic energy, directed energy or anti-radiation weapons to attack personnel, facilities, or equipment with the intent of degrading, neutralizing, or destroying enemy combat capability."

Tactical Laser Weapons:

There are currently two teams competing for this program: the Rockwell / Hughes / Raytheon E-Systems / SVS R&D / Lockheed Martin / Parsons / SAIC team, and the Boeing / Lockheed / TRW team.

The Airborne Laser ABL :
aircraft-based Directional Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) system
YAL-1A

info graphic

The Airborne Laser is designed to prove that a megawatt-class chemical laser mounted on a large aircraft (in this case, a 747) can shoot down a long-range ballistic missile before it escapes the atmosphere.


It's an Airborne Laser system (ABL) by Lockheed Martin, modified 747-400F's are now equipped to take out enemy missles. This system consists of a "High Energy Laser", "Flight Turret Assembly", "Tracker Illuminator lasers", and a "Beacon Illuminator".

It is primarily designed to destroy tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs), similar to the Scud, while in boost phase.

1. The ALTB uses one of its six infrared sensors to detect the exhaust plume of a boosting missile.
2. A kilowatt-class solid state laser, the Track Illuminator, tracks the missile and determines a precise aim point.
3. The Beacon Illuminator, a second laser, then measures disturbances in the atmosphere, which are corrected by the adaptive optics system to accurately point and focus the High Energy Laser (HEL) at its target.
4. Using a large telescope located in the nose turret, the beam control/fire control system focuses the HEL beam onto a pressurized area of the missile, holding it there until laser energy compromises the missile’s structural integrity causing it to fail.

System Specifications

• 747-400 freighter [modified]
• crew: 4 including pilot and copilot [which would patrol in pairs at high]
• 1MW-class chemical laser [chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL)] with Basketball diameter beam width
• Telescope 1.5 m [mounted on the nose] with 6 infrared laser beams
• Ranger [carbon dioxide (CO2)] with maximum targeting range 600 Kilometers ,
• Engagement Range: 2000 miles
• Aim targets : Air Targets (missiles in boost phase)
• Research and development cost : more than $9 billion [2nd after raptor F-22]

In Details

• The ABL system uses infrared sensors for initial missile detection. After initial detection, three low power tracking lasers calculate missile course, speed, an aim point, and air turbulence.

• Air turbulence deflects and distorts the laser beam. The ABL adaptive optics use the turbulence measurement to compensate for atmospheric errors.

• The main laser, located in a turret on the aircraft nose, is fired for 3 to 5 seconds, causing the missile to break up in flight near the launch area.

• The ABL is not designed to intercept TBMs in the terminal, or descending, flight phase. Thus, the ABL must be within a few hundred kilometers of the missile launch point. All of this occurs in approximately 8 to 12 seconds.
• Weapon System Integration = High power Laser + Beam Fire Control

Tactical Engagement Phase :

Targeting Sequence

• The scanning of the horizon for the plumes of rising missiles in launch phase. using 6 radars mounted on airplane.
• Ranger laser beam measure it's distance
• Using 1st laser beam ,Low power Track Illuminating laser (TILL) determine the aim point on the threat missile [the return of the TILL beam of the target nose consist high precision track and rapid designation of the aim point for the high power laser]

• 2nd laser beam ,Pecking Illuminating laser BILL measure the atmospheric disturbance inter-being both.
• 3rd laser beam ,much higher power chemical laser (MW class) with same wavelength
• Using the three bursts of energy the missile will suffer catastrophic damage
• Illuminating the missile with a tracking laser beam while computers measure the distance and calculate its course and direction

Test Phase :

Airborne laser (ABL) testbed flight 147 - FMA Engagement
Events are accurate but not shown in real time

11 feb 2010

An infrared video the Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Testbed (right) destroying a threat representative short-range ballistic missile (left).

Comment "As it may sound impressive it has it's drawbacks too an ICBM is fired usually thousands of miles away from enemy soil so the 747 has to be flying over enemy airspace with constant threat of anti air missiles and enemy fighters as it is the 747 is a passenger jet with limited manuvarability. "


An ICBM Spinning on its axis will require twice as long to destroy itPossible countermeasures to laser attack on ballistic missiles include covering the missile with a material highly reflective at the laser wavelength and spinning the missile about its long axis to distribute laser energy over a larger area.

At a maximum, an ABL can only lase the portion of the ICBM that it is facing (e.g. from a single vantage point, you can only see half of the Moon). By spinning the missile along its axis, it will require at least twice the time to destroy it with an ABL.

Instead of two minutes, it will require at least four minutes or 240 seconds, which is longer than the 180-second boost phase. The ABL needs an upgrade in technology and must prove it can reliably track and maintain a beam on the same spot on a much-faster-moving ICBM in its mid-course phase.

Loitering above enemy airspace for four minutes in a Boeing 747 may prove to be deadly.

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Advanced Tactical Laser ATL : '

Creating a laser that can melt a soda can in a lab is a finicky enough task. Later this year, scientists will put a 40,000-pound chemical laser in the belly of a gunship flying at 300 mph and take aim at targets as far away as five miles. And we’re not talking aluminum cans. Boeing’s new Advanced Tactical Laser will cook trucks, tanks, radio stations—the kinds of things hit with missiles and rockets today. Whereas conventional projectiles can lose sight of their target and be shot down or deflected, the ATL moves at the speed of light and can strike several targets in rapid succession.

Last December, Boeing, under contract from the Department of Defense, installed a $200-million prototype of the laser into a C-130 at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico in preparation for test flights this year. From there it will go to the Air Force for more testing, and it could be in battle within five years.

Precise control over the beam’s aim allows it to hit a moving target a few inches wide and confine the damage to that space. The Pentagon hopes such precision will translate into less collateral damage than even today’s most accurate missiles. Future versions using different types of lasers could be mounted on smaller vehicles, such as fighter jets, helicopters and trucks.

Tactical Engagement

How to Melt a Tank in Three Seconds Or Less

1. Find Your Target
When the C-130 flies within targeting range (up to five miles away), the gunner aims using a rotating video camera mounted beneath the fuselage. The computer locks onto the object to continually track it. A second crew member precisely adjusts the laser beam’s strength—higher power to disable vehicles, lower power to knock out, say, a small power generator. The gunner hits “fire,” and the computer takes over from there.

2. Heat Up the Laser
In a fraction of a second, chlorine gas mixes with hydrogen peroxide. The resulting chemical reaction creates highly energetic oxygen molecules. Pressurized nitrogen pushes the oxygen through a fine mist of iodine, transferring the oxygen’s energy to iodine molecules, which shed it in the form of intense light.

3. Amplify the Beam
The optical resonator bounces this light between mirrors, forcing more iodine molecules to cough up their photons, further increasing the laser beam’s intensity. From there, the light travels through a sealed pipe above the weapon’s crew station and into a chamber called the optical bench. There, sensors determine the beam’s quality, while mechanically controlled mirrors compensate for movement of the airplane, vibration and atmospheric conditions. Precise airflow regulates the chamber’s temperature and humidity, which helps keep the beam strong.

4. Stand Clear
A kind of reverse telescope called the beam expander inside a retractable, swiveling pod called the turret widens the beam to 20 inches and aims it. The laser’s computer determines the distance to the target and adjusts the beam so it condenses into a focused point at just the right spot. Tracking computers help make microscopic adjustments to compensate for both the airplane’s and the target’s movement. A burst of a few seconds’ duration will burn a several-inch-wide hole in whatever it hits.

System Specifications :

• Generator : 40,000 pound Chemical laser
• Carrier: modified C-130H aircraft flying at 300 mph
• Targeting Range : 5 miles
• Aim targets : ground vehicles and sea chips

Test Phase

The illustration shows a theoretical 26-second engagement in which the beam deftly destroys "32 tires, 11 Antennae, 3 Missile Launchers, 11 EO devices, 4 Mortars, 5 Machine Guns" — while avoiding harming a truckload of refugees and the soldiers guarding them.

Ground Based laser Weapon (two versions)
It's is a giant laser gun with some brain as it can focus the high intensity laser with pinpoint accuracy on the most vulnerable part of the missile that is usually the explosives compartment. The beam makes the compartment so hot that the explosives inside the compartment are destroyed well before they reach their target.

NORTROP GRUMMAN PROPOSES SKYGUARD TO COUNTER MANPADs THREAT – A ground-based, high-energy laser – Skyguard – is being proposed by Northrop Grumman Corporation to defend civil aircraft and commercial airports from the threat of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADs). The company submitted its proposal recently to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

From 1996 to 2005, the U.S. and Israeli governments worked together on the Tactical High Energy Laser project, considered by many to be the most successful energy weapon ever built.

the video illustrate THEL intercepted five artillery projectiles and 28 rocket targets, including the short range 122mm Katyusha type rockets fired singly and in salvos and larger

MTHEL uses directed energy (laser beam) to intercept aerial targets such as rockets, missiles, artillery shells and other aerial threats. The target destruction is achieved by projecting a highly focused, high-power laser beam, delivered by a chemical laser, with enough energy to affect the target, and explode it in midair. This operational concept is offering the first "reusable" interception element. Existing interceptors use kinetic energy kill vehicles (such as fragmentation warheads), which are not reusable.
MTHEL is a development of the mobile version of the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) testbed weapon, developed by Northrop Grumman under a US Army contract. The program was expected to provide a completed prototype by 2007. By January 2006 the THEL/Nautilus program was shelved due to lack of budget.

THEL — known in Israel as "Nautilus" — meant brewing up hundreds of gallons of toxic chemicals, like ethylene and nitrogen trifluoride.

A mobile THEL proved to be too complex, and too expensive to contemplate. Worse, after a few shots, the lasers would have to be resupplied with a fresh batch of reactants.
One Sky b guard system is capable of generating a protective shield of about 10 kilometers in diameter.

Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL)

     

Sky guard laser based defense system
Skyguard has an infrared camera that scans continuously scans a 6-8 mile radius around the installation site. On finding any heat emitting device in air it scans it for its heat signature and checks that with a database of known heat signatures. If the check reveals the presence of a missile then the laser is activated and it focuses on the main vulnerable compartment of the missile structure that heats it up and destroys it in mid air.

The technology will be pretty expensive as individual units will cost around $150 Million but if the units are mass produced then the system will cost somewhere around $30 Million.

It offers a never before level of safety to jet aircraft at their most vulnerable time, takeoff and landing. The high tech Tactical High Energy Laser is designed to destroy the most sophisticated threats even those that reach supersonic speed.

System Specifications

THEL uses proven laser beam generation technologies, proven beam- pointing technologies, and existing sensors and communication networks to provide a new active defense capability in counter air missions. The THEL can provide an innovative solution not offered by other systems or technologies for the acquisition and close-in engagement problems associated with short- to medium-range threats, thereby significantly enhancing coverage of combat forces and theater-level assets.

The THEL low-cost per kill (about $3,000 per kill) will also provide a cost-effective defense against low-cost air threats. It features up to 60 shots without reloading and a P(k) near 1 at ranges of some 5 km.

THEL uses both Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitrogen Trifluoride. Nitrogen Triflouride (NF3) NF3 is used as a fluorine source in high-energy chemical lasers. Two applications are THEL and MIRACL (Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser) at White Sands Missile Range. Type 70 Hydrogen Peroxide is a critical element in the Anti-Ballistic Laser (ABL) and THEL Programs. Chemical lasers are the only class of HEL able to achieve megawatt power levels at century's turn. The MIRACL is a deuterium fluoride (DF) laser operating at a wavelength of 3.8 microns that has been in operation at the megawatt level since the mid 1980s at the White Sands HEL Systems Test Facility. It suffered from inherent propagation losses at full power in the operational wavelengths. DF technology found a home in the US Army/Israeli THEL, where propagation losses were mitigated by lower power levels and a crossing target.

Another US project for NAVSEA

 
Laser Weapons Syste (LaWS)

Raytheon revealed its next-gen directed energy weapon at the Farnborough Air Show today, releasing video showing its Laser Weapons System (LaWS) -- a six-laser weapon that focuses on a single target -- engaging and then destroying an unmanned aerial vehicle from the deck of a Navy vessel at sea.

The tests, conducted in May and June, show the LaWS illuminating and then heating the underside of a drone aircraft shortly before it goes up in flames and loses trajectory, plummeting into the ocean below. Guided by Raytheon's Laser Close-in Weapon System (CIWS), a sensor suite that locks onto and guides the energy weapon, LaWS shot down three similar drones during the tests, which mark the first time a solid-state laser has shot down an aircraft on the wing over open seas.
There are three significant parts to this story. First, it's important to note that LaWS is a solid-state laser rather than a chemical laser, which means it's not quite so hazardous to handle and requires less energy to use. It's also smaller, which makes it a lot more feasible to pack onto a naval vessel. Second, solid-state lasers are generally weaker than chemical lasers, and that problem is compounded by the moist air in ocean climates, as that moisture can absorb laser energy and weaken the beam. So proving this solid-state technology can work at sufficient strengths over the ocean is a serious milestone.

But most importantly, Raytheon demonstrated that a laser integrated into the Navy's Phalanx anti-missile defense system -- a weapons system already mounted on many naval vessels -- can hit a moving target from the deck of a ship, which itself is moving and rolling along with the ocean. That's pretty sharp shooting, and it could arm U.S. seamen with a greatly enhanced last line of defense during aerial and ballistic missile warfare at sea.

Of course, what works on a moving naval platform also works from stationary, land-based positions, and Raytheon is also looking to mount the system on trailers much as Boeing has done with its Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated experiments (MATRIX). That system, along with some of Boeing's other directed energy systems, shot down several UAVs last year. But if Raytheon can do it in a smaller, less energy-intensive package the military might find that more compact solid-state lasers are the future.

Source & for more detailed info

 Another US project for Lockheed Martin

Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM)

Live Demonstration

  Lockheed Martin’s Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system is a laser weapon system that is designed to defeat close-in improvised rocket and unmanned aerial system (UAS) threats. Lockheed Martin based the system on commercial hardware paired with the corporation’s beam control architecture and software to provide the performance needed for these types of threats.   

Providing short-range defense of high-value areas including forward operating bases, the ADAM system is designed to track targets at a range of more than 5 kilometers and to destroy targets at a range of up to 2 kilometers. This ground-based, transportable system is self-contained to conduct the full engagement sequence against rockets and accepts an initial external radar cue to engage UASs. For rocket threats, the ADAM system detects the threat and within seconds locks on the target and establishes an aim point. When the ADAM system declares a valid aim point, it fires the laser on the target long enough to negate the rocket or UAS. Lockheed Martin has successfully demonstrated the ADAM system in a series of tests against representative airborne targets in 2012. Lockheed Martin developed the ADAM system under independent research and development funding.   Source ==1==

MBDA Germany demonstrates 40 kW laser gun

The German subsidiary of MBDA, the missile systems company that is jointly owned by the European aerospace and defense giants BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica, says that the solid-state laser weapon it is developing has now reached an output power of 40 kW. The power level exceeds the 25 kW levels achieved so far by US rivals – and the company says that it will shortly begin testing the system at a “proving ground” in Oberjettenberg, with the aim of shooting down an airborne target for the first time. MBDA says it has generated such high powers by using fiber lasers combined with its own patented beam coupling technology to maintain high beam quality – crucial for the lasers to be effective at large stand-off distances. In recent firing tests, the laser is said to have burned through mortar shells and pierced 40 mm-thick steel plates “in a few seconds”. “The tests demonstrated the good beam quality of the lasers used and the precise and low-loss merging of the individual beams,” announced the company in a statement. “This is the only way to ensure that targets are neutralised rapidly and reliably.” Output power quadrupled The latest firing rounds represent a rapid increase in output power since tests began in 2008, and after the company demonstrated a 10 kW system in September 2011. That 10 kW laser was able to hit a target from 2.3 km away, under what MBDA described as “real-life environmental conditions” and with an altitude difference of 1 km – and if the 40 kW system can maintain the same level of beam quality, those figures ought to be increased dramatically in the forthcoming tests. “High-power laser weapons can soon provide an answer to conventional and asymmetric threats in military missions,” said Peter Heilmeier, head of market and business development at MBDA Germany. “They can contribute greatly to protecting our troops. Laser weapons are characterised by precision at long ranges, minimum operating costs and the avoidance of collateral damage." The company is likely to present more details of its beam-combining technology at the forthcoming SPIE Europe Defense + Security conference, which is being held in Edinburgh later this month. MBDA Germany’s talk, entitled “High-power beam combining: a step to a future laser weapon system”, will feature in the conference session on High-Power Lasers: Technology and Systems on Monday, September 24. Shareholder merger impact? The development of “directed energy” weapons - as they are known more correctly - has become a high-profile field of development, with rapid progress in solid-state and fiber laser designs. The SPIE conference also features talks from Lockheed Martin Aculight on the Robust Electric Laser Initiative (RELI), as well as a plenary address by Mark Neice, director of High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office. MBDA’s development of the fiber laser demonstrator is being financed partly via the company’s own funds and in part by the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB). Earlier this week MBDA’s two major shareholders, EADS and BAE Systems, announced that they were in talks to merge – a deal that could have a major impact on the global aerospace and defense market if it does get the go-ahead from shareholders and regulators. Currently the two firms each own a 37.5% share in MBDA, with Finmeccanica owning the remaining 25%. Last month, the US Navy published a broad area announcement (BAA) inviting proposals for the rapid development and demonstration of a ship-based solid-state laser weapon. The document outlines a phased $110 million program to scale laser output powers from 25 kW to 100 kW for a largely autonomous weapon that could be deployed in a US Navy “program of record” from 2016 at the earliest. Press release 

Source ==1==  ==2==

Tactical Microwave Weapons:

The Active Denial System (ADS)

The 95 GHz millimeter wave has a range of up to 1000 meters, or 7 football fields. The directed-energy beam only penetrates 1/64th of an inch into the skin.

"Heat Ray" raises the temperature of skin by 130 degrees

creates an intense heated sensation lasting 1-2 seconds and is caused by a radio frequency wave, not radiation or microwave.

It doesn't cause irreversible damage, but will make someone instinctively back off. 

As a nonlethal weapon, it can be used for crowd control or determining hostile intent before engaging with lethal weapons. ADS can buy life-saving time. “You’re not going to see it, you’re not going to hear it, you’re not going to smell it. You’re going to feel it,” said director of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, Marine Col. Tracy Tafolla.

The Marines recently demonstrated their painful "heat ray" a weapon that blasts intruders with a wave beam that targets skin and makes victims feel like they've stepped in front of a blazing oven, but without killing them.

source

The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response, or PHaSR This hand-held laser system can temporary blind you

The Phasr was introduced in 2005 by the Air Force. 

As another directed energy weapon, the Phasr employs a two-wavelength laser system that temporarily removes an aggressor's ability to see. 

It's like opening your eyes in the middle of the night to someone shoving a blinding flashlight in your face. The Air Force casually calls this effect "dazzling" or "illuminating." Whatever you call it, this hand-held device effectively impairs anyone targeted

The first two prototypes of  PHaSR, were built here last month and delivered to the laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate at Brooks City Base, Texas, and the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at Quantico, Va. for testing. 

The National Institute of Justice recently awarded ScorpWorks $250,000 to make an advanced prototype that will add an eye-safe laser range finder into PHaSR. Systems such as PHaSR have historically been too powerful at close ranges and ineffective but eye-safe at long ranges. The next prototype is planned to include the addition of the eye-safe range finder and is planned for completion in March 2006. source

Active Denial System (ADS)

The U.S. military has unveiled a new weapon, a non-lethal heat ray weapon that causes a sensation of unbearable heat which appears to the victim to come from nowhere and causes a reflexive urge to flee.

The ADS works by firing a high-powered beam of 95 GHz extremely high frequency waves at a target, which corresponds to a wavelength of 3.2 mm.The ADS millimeter wave energy works on a similar principle as a microwave oven, exciting the water and fat molecules in the skin, and instantly heating them via dielectric heating.

 

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The sensation of heat, according to AFP, is generated by a strong electromagnetic beam, and the non-lethal sensation of heat is so powerful that the immediate instinct of the victim is to flee. The target experiences a sudden blast of heat comparable to opening a very hot oven, and the pain makes the target reflexively step or run away.

The "Active Denial System" (ADS) has the capability to fire high-frequency millimeter electromagnetic waves at 95 gigahertz a distance of about 1,000 meters. According to RT, "the millimeter waves excite water and fat molecules in the body, instantly heating them via dielectric heating, causing intense pain."

The Humvee-mounted Active Denial System (ADS) can strike from at least one-third of a mile away, using a focused beam of electromagnetic radiation. Designed for crowd control and to disperse human shields, the beam creates a 6-inch spot of intense pain within a second or two. Anyone in its path moves long before it causes a serious burn. WAVE ACTION: (1) Electrons accelerated in a vacuum tube create millimeter-long waves. (2) The core of an ADS-equipped Humvee is the millimeter-wave generator, which is surrounded by power supplies and cooling systems. The waves are sent to an antenna, which aims and focuses the beam. (3) Millimeter-long electromagnetic waves are 100 times shorter and much more powerful than those produced by microwave ovens. Illustration by Jason Lee

Nonlethal weapons could be used to disperse crowds, repel attackers or, as readers learn in "Shoot to Not Kill" (May 2003 issue), test the pain tolerance of journalists. Nonlethal weapons can be acoustic, chemical or electrical in nature, and range from the simple to the highly complex. Here are some selected technologies, at various stages of development, that the U.S. military has considered for its nonlethal arsenal: Blunt Impact Projectiles: Sting balls, rubber balls, beanbag rounds, baton-shaped rubber projectiles. Sponge Grenades: Soft nose minimizes serious injury. Calmative Agent Sponge Projectile: Sponge-delivered doses of incapacitating chemicals. Modular Crowd Control Munition: Contains hundreds of sting balls. Sticky Foam: Could slow or delay a hostile force´s approach. Slippery Foam: Spread across a path, this would hinder pursuers trying to cross over. Taser Grenade: For firing taser cartridges. The Sticky Shocker: Launched like a projectile, it shoots barbs onto the target´s clothing, then sends incapacitating high-voltage pulses. Anti-Personnel Acoustics: Various concepts have been explored for creating acoustic sources that would be capable of disabling a suspect. Flash: An array of grenade-launched, non-explosive flashbulbs used for crowd dispersal. Obscurants: Smoke could be used above ground to reduce visibility; inks could be dispersed underwater for the same purpose. 40mm MK 19 Non-Lethal Munition: These nonlethal rounds would be fired from a grenade machine gun. Objective Individual Combat Weapon: A delivery system that could deploy payloads such as malodorants, markers or anti-traction devices. Entanglement Grenade: A net fired over a small crowd that could be used as a containment device. Unmanned Powered Parafoil: Remote-controlled aerial spray dispenser. Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse: For use against automobile engines. Project abandoned, but some interest remains in applying it to ships. Magnetic Pulse: Intense, focused magnetic fields, designed to knock out electronics. E-Bomb: A radio-frequency generator deployed by bomb. High-Power Microwave: For the defense of Navy ships, and to attack aircraft. Could also be used against power plants, information systems, radar and engines. Ground Vehicle Stopper (GVS): A high-power microwave device. Pulsed Current: An anti-materiel device designed to stop vehicles in high-speed chases. Running Gear Entanglement System (RGES): A rope net that wraps itself around the propeller of an enemy vessel. The trick is deploying the system; surface- and air-launch deliveries have both been considered. Viscosity Agents: These are fuel thickeners; the means of delivery is still undecided Fuel Contaminants: Chemical compounds that could ruin the enemy´s stored fuel. I-Visible: A fuel additive that makes exhaust emit a detectable infrared signature. RF Taggant: A tracer encased in a sticky bullet, used as a tracking device

AFP reports Marine Colonel Tracy Taffola, director of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, Marine Corps Base Quantico, said at a demonstration of the new weapon to members of the media: "You're not gonna see it, you're not gonna hear it, you're not gonna smell it: you're gonna feel it."

Physorg.com reports that officials say the ADS is the military's "safest non-lethal capability" developed over 15 years. It was deployed briefly in Afghanistan in 2010, but never used in field operations.

RT also reports that while microwaves will penetrate into human tissue about 17mm (0.67"), the millimeter waves used in the ADS only penetrate the top layers of skin, with most of the energy absorbed within 0.4 mm (1/64").

Officials, according to RT, say the risk of injury from the weapon was lower than risk from use of rubber bullets or pepper spray. Officials emphasized that it does not cause cancer or exacerbate it, nor does it cause fertility problems or birth defects.

 MOre DEtaiLs

 

Directed Energy Weapons 2/2 

 

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