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Posts Tagged ‘directed energy weapons’

A similar microwave pain ray was disqualified for military use in Afghanistan

The device, which will be mounted high on the wall in a dormitory housing some 65 prisoners, does no damage but it's ray penetrates the skin about 1/64th of an inch over an area about the size of a CD, causing a sensation that's been equated to opening an extremely hot oven. The pain stops when the target gets out of the way of the beam. It is controlled remotely via a joystick and a camera mounted on the ray itself. Deputies at Pitchess think it should help break up fights between inmates and keep deputies from having to hurl themselves into harm's way when inmates get unruly.

Of course, we've seen similar technology before in military settings. The U.S. Army deployed a similar Humvee-mounted pain ray cannon to Afghanistan, though it was recalled to the States without ever having been used (or so we're told). Apparently incapacitating locals with a searing sensation of extreme heat was deemed an inappropriate way to win hearts and minds.

At Pritchess, where there have already been 257 inmate-on-inmate assaults and 19 assaults on deputies over the fist half of this year, deputies are likely less worried about being liked and more concerned about maintaining safety and order. If the pain ray is successful at helping them do so, it could be installed in prisons nationwide.

[Daily News]

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.

Check out the CIWS roasting a drone below.

[Raytheon via BBC]

Directed energy weapons -- the laser weapons of the future -- have shown promise in both their power and their precision. But there are some serious technological challenges involved in weaponizing devices like powerful chemical lasers, not least of which is dealing with the vast amounts of waste heat they generate. General Atomics recently tested a wax-fueled storage device that might just overcome that hurdle, opening the door to the next generation of energy weapons.

The 3-megajoule, 35-kilogram module stores all that excess heat by melting a waxy phase-change material augmented by a variety of other thermal materials. What exactly these materials are seems to be a trade secret at this point, but by allowing that heat energy to be consumed by melting that waxy substance, the device can pull 230 kilowatts of heat away from the primary weapon. "To put it into perspective, it's the equivalent of melting about 20 pounds of ice in 13 seconds," said Dr. Paul Clark, a manager in Advanced Power Systems at General Atomics, in a press release.

That's a good deal of heat, and being able to successfully pull it out of the weapon and store it could benefit both high-powered laser devices and microwave devices, which are both candidates for directed energy weapons. It will be interesting to see if engineers can figure out a constructive use for all that stored wasted heat, perhaps using it to power vehicle systems for mobile DEW platforms or returning energy to the weapons systems themselves.

We've seen phase-change materials used for their energy-management skills in applications like computer memory, submarines, and coffee mugs. So why not lasers?

[General Atomics]