Directed energy technology overview

Author

Lavan, Michael ; Wachs, John

Author_Institution

Space & Missile Defense Command/Army Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT), Directed Energy Div., Space & Missile Defense Tech. Center, U.S. Army, Redstone Arsenal, AL, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

19-23 June 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

45

Abstract

I would like to summarize where we are in the development of High-Energy Laser weapons systems. The feasibility of shooting down rockets, artillery, and mortars (RAM) targets with a high energy chemical laser was demonstrated with the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) program over 10 years ago. Although the THEL demonstration was success, the logistics and safety issues associated with the chemicals used to power the laser made it impractical for use as a fielded weapons system for the Army. To overcome these issues, emphasis shifted towards the development of solid-state lasers as they are electrically powered.

Keywords

chemical lasers; solid lasers; weapons; Army; artillery targets; directed energy technology; fielded weapons system; high energy chemical laser; high-energy laser weapons systems; mortars targets; rockets targets; solid-state lasers; tactical high energy laser program; Chemical lasers; Laser beams; Laser radar; Masers; Measurement by laser beam; Radar tracking; Target tracking;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Pulsed Power Conference (PPC), 2011 IEEE

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

ISSN

2158-4915

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-0629-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPC.2011.6191690

Filename

6191690