Energy weapon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As energy weapons ( English directed-energy weapons , short DEW ) or directed energy weapon is generally referred to a new generation of weapons systems with bundled energy military set goals out of action, damage or destroy can. In particular, it can also mean laser weapons and plasma cannons .

Technology and possible uses

The energy of these weapons can be transmitted in different forms: by electromagnetic radiation (mostly (high energy) - laser or maser , but also as a blinding weapon ), by particles that have mass (particle stream weapons), or by sound waves (ultrasonic weapons) .

In addition, (high-performance or high-energy) lasers and plasma cannons (see also plasma (physics) ), which are used as space weapons , but also focused micro and sound waves , are counted among the energy weapons.

As far as is known, research and development have mainly been carried out in the USA , which is where almost all known systems come from. The Strategic Defense Initiative announced by US President Ronald Reagan in 1983 was a key impetus for this research . From 1993, it was under President Bill Clinton to the ground-based defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles by anti-missile missiles reduced and continues to this day.

In addition to military use, energy weapons are also propagated in the field of non-lethal weapons . Although there is overlap, the two terms cannot simply be equated, as Directed Energy Weapons often only have a non-lethal effect due to a deliberately short pulse time or reduced radiation. If used against people or vehicles in a targeted manner that deviates from their actual doctrine , they can lead to injury or death.

In addition, energy or radiation weapons can also be used to make useless ( mined ) land (or, more generally, scorched earth ) usable again due to explosive mines or, for example, to re- enter space debris and thus (also) pose such risks to the ( civil ) spaceflight.

High power or high energy laser (HEL)

Ground-based lasers

Stationary systems

Three lasers from the Starfire Optical Range shine in the same direction.

Energy weapons include ground-based high-energy laser weapons. The United States in particular is investing considerable sums in such weapon systems. The Starfire Optical Range Observatory of the Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is well known.

On September 6, 1985 (of English was provided during the LTH-l tests Lethality and Target Hardening about to dt. Deadliness and Zielhärtung ) for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) , the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility commissioned. It is set up on the White Sands missile test site and houses among other things. a. the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) based on deuterium fluoride . With a wavelength of 3.8 micrometers and outputs in the multi- megawatt range, it was at times supposedly the most powerful laser operated in the USA. The MIRACL is controlled, among other things, by the SEALITE Beam Director developed for the US Navy . This should be able to focus the laser light precisely on defined areas such as a flying target. The Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System in White Sands is used to test tactical US systems for their vulnerability and susceptibility to directed energy. The Large Chamber Vacuum (LVC, 16.5 meters in diameter) Finally, a vacuum produced as prevails in 100 kilometers high.

Mobile systems

  • United States

The so-called Tactical High Energy Laser , short THEL (English for Tactical High Energy Laser ), was a project to develop a high-energy laser weapon system, which was to combine components of laser beam technology with sensors and alignment technology to an active defense system against fire by artillery weapons. The development was stopped after ten years. The official reason was that the costs were too high. The shooting rates were also minimal and the devices too large and immobile. In March 2015, the American arms company Lockheed Martin tested the Advanced Test High Energy Asset ( Athena for short ), which bundles several individual lasers into a 30 kW system. It was possible to destroy the engine block of a jacked up vehicle from a distance of 1.6  kilometers . According to Lockheed Martin, it should be the most powerful laser of its kind.

  • Germany

In 2010, both MBDA Germany and Rheinmetall Defense independently tested 10 kW laser systems. These should be able to be used for air defense and as C-RAM systems (= Counter Rocket, Artillery, Mortar). The Rheinmetall system was successfully used against non-hardened targets - a drone in flight and a rubber dinghy - on a test basis. The company stated that a 100 kW system could be operational in three to five years. Nothing was disclosed about the type of laser used. In November 2012, Rheinmetall announced that it had successfully tested a 50 kW system. It was a composite system of two weapons - connected to a fire control device: a 30 kW laser weapon and a 20 kW laser weapon, which were switched together using Beam Superimposing Technology (BST). Technically, a 100 kW laser weapon could therefore also be implemented. At a distance of 1000 m, a 15 mm thick steel beam is said to have been cut up during the weapon test and a drone was destroyed from a distance of two kilometers. In September 2012, the company MBDA stated that "under real environmental conditions, the tracking of dynamic targets and the effect on the target at a distance of over 2300 m and a difference in altitude of 1000 m were successfully demonstrated." In 2015, Rheinmetall tested a vehicle-based prototype whose precision was sufficient to destroy a cartridge on a soldier's belt.

Until 2015, the laser research was officially contested by the federal government and did not have to be reported to the Bundestag, as the budget of the individual projects was below 25 million euros. Over € 80 million has now been invested in research.

  • People's Republic of China

In November 2018, Chinese high-energy lasers were presented for the first time at the International Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai . One is a system from the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation , in which target acquisition and the laser itself are combined on a three-axle truck. This system is designed to take out small, low-flying drones.

The LW-30 laser system from China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation consists of a logistical support vehicle, a mobile command post equipped with radar and one or more laser trucks. The radar detects approaching mortar shells, precision-guided ammunition or drones from a great distance, transmits the information to the laser vehicle, which destroys the objects in a few seconds. The LW-30 is used to destroy objects with a radar cross section of less than 1 m², which fly at an altitude of less than 1 km at a speed of 200 km / h.

  • Libya

The first real war use of a high-energy laser (HEL) took place in the Libyan civil war. A mobile laser system from the Turkish arms manufacturer ASELSAN shot down a Wing Loong II combat drone from the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group near Misrata .

Sea-based lasers

In April 2013, the US Navy announced on its homepage that it would install a prototype laser cannon on the USS Ponce , which operates in the Strait of Hormuz . The system can turn off patrol boats and drones and is also said to be able to destroy attacking missiles and fighter planes later. This can be seen as a warning to Iran , which, according to US data, is aggressively expanding its military activities in the region.

Since November 2014, the US Navy has been carrying out tests and an "operational demonstration" with the LaWS (Laser Weapon System) developed by the Office of Naval Research . The LaWS was installed on board the USS Ponce (AFSB (I) -15) . A currently existing surface-to-air weapon costs US $ 400,000 per "shot". A LaWS “shot” is said to cost 59 US cents.

In January 2018, it was announced that the USS Portland would receive the LaWS from the decommissioned USS Ponce. Further systems were ordered, one of which the USS Arleigh Burke will receive. Overall, the Navy has drawn a contract worth $ 150 million, the other options for approximately 942.8 million USD includes.

Space-based lasers

Graphic of an Airborne Laser ( Boeing YAL-1 ABL) in flight, how it uses a megawatt laser to destroy a ballistic missile hundreds of kilometers away .

Even space-based laser (English space-based laser , short SBL ) are in development. The US defense and aviation group Lockheed Martin is one of the leading companies . As things stand at present, however, their practical applicability is still limited. The main problem is how to make the vast amounts of energy available for effective use. Chemical lasers are currently being tested for airborne and ground-based systems.

Airborne lasers

The development of airborne lasers fired from aircraft ( Airborne Laser ABL) is at an advanced stage; The main contractor for the US military in this field is Northrop Grumman , which is also responsible for the MIRACL in White Sands. They are to form one of the pillars of the US national missile defense . For them, too , technologies developed by the Directed Energy Directorate are predominantly used.

The first experiments with an airborne high-energy laser (English high energy laser , HEL ) were obtained from the US Air Force 1975-1984 carried out using a modified machine of the type NKC-135A with a carbon dioxide laser (Carbon Dioxide Gas Dynamic Laser, GDL) was used. Despite its technical limitations, the system of the then Airborne Laser Laboratory of the USAF is said to have destroyed several, usually very fast-flying AIM-9 Sidewinders and a BMQ-34A drone.

At the end of October 2006 it was announced that in 2007 a Boeing 747 , called Big Crow , would be equipped with a laser system for missile defense ( Boeing YAL-1 ). The first tests of the laser system under air combat conditions were planned for 2008. The continuation of the project was stopped under Defense Minister Gates.

In 2016 the American Air Force ( USAF ) started to equip up to four AC-130W "Gunships" with energy weapons. The weapon system is to have an output between 60kW and 120kW and is to be used against vehicles and communication systems on the ground. Compared to conventional cannon armament, v. a. its " stealth " aspects when using weapons (no light or sound emissions) have the advantage that the aircraft can remain hidden. Similar systems will also be used on drones ( UAV ).

HEL systems are also being investigated as defense systems for 5th generation combat aircraft in order to blind or combat approaching missiles.

Further examples

literature

  • Olaf Arndt: Demonen - On the mythology of internal security. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-89401-468-7 Review by I. Küpeli (PDF; 83 kB).
  • Alastair D. McAulay: Military Laser Technology for Defense: Technology for Revolutionizing 21st Century Warfare. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey 2011, ISBN 978-0-470-25560-5 .

Web links

Commons : Active Denial System  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b When it comes to radiation weapons, Germany is ahead ( memento from November 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) - Heise , February 25, 2016
  2. ↑ a b Military Conference: Radiation weapons don't just have to destroy ( Memento from November 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) - Heise , February 26, 2016
  3. ↑ Without risks and side effects: Mine clearance from the air ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) - Fernuni Hagen , December 7, 2009
  4. ↑ High Energy Laser Systems (English) - Overview on the White Sands Missile Range page ( Memento from June 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Florian Rötzer: Rheinmetall wants to have successfully tested a 50 kW laser weapon. (No longer available online.) In: heise.de . January 9, 2013, archived from the original on November 17, 2016 ; Retrieved February 26, 2015 .
  6. ↑ MBDA Germany tests high-energy laser weapon system ( Memento from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ a b Oliver Mayer-Rüth: Research past the Bundestag: Science fiction weapons in the Bundeswehr? (No longer available online.) In: tagesschau.de. July 8, 2015, archived from the original on July 10, 2015 ; accessed on December 21, 2015 .
  8. ^ Liang Jun: Laser weapons ready as China creates cutting-edge military hardware. In: en.people.cn. December 28, 2018, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Cao Siqi: New laser weapon could contain air reconnaissance, be deployed in Tibet: expert. In: globaltimes.cn. November 11, 2018, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  10. ↑ m.youtube.com
  11. ↑ armyrecognition.com
  12. ↑ This story was written by Office of Naval Resear: Navy Leaders Announce Plans for Deploying Cost-Saving Laser Technology. (No longer available online.) In: navy.mil. July 30, 2012, archived from the original on February 24, 2015 ; accessed on February 26, 2015 .
  13. ↑ New weapon system: US Navy wants to test laser cannon in the Persian Gulf. (No longer available online.) In: Spiegel Online . April 9, 2013, archived from the original on January 2, 2015 ; Retrieved February 26, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Tom Shanker: Navy Deploying Laser Weapon Prototype Near Iran. (No longer available online.) In: New York Times. April 8, 2013, archived from the original on February 14, 2016 ; accessed on December 21, 2015 .
  15. ^ Daniel Cooper: The Navy's new laser can do more than just shoot down drones. (No longer available online.) October 12, 2014, archived from the original on December 22, 2015 ; accessed on December 21, 2015 (English, an article with photos and a video on engadget).
  16. ↑ 141117-N-PO203-072 (public photos of the LaWS system aboard the USS Ponce). Office of Naval Research on Flickr , November 17, 2014, archived from the original March 14, 2016 ; accessed on February 29, 2016 .
  17. ↑ Fleet's first laser gun shines in deployed exercises. NavyTimes , December 11, 2014, accessed February 29, 2016 .
  18. ↑ James Laporta: Navy orders laser weapon systems from Lockheed Martin in Spacedaily "Washington (UPI) Jan 29, 2018" ( Memento from March 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ Space Based Laser [SBL]. (No longer available online.) Federation Of American Scientists (FAS), February 18, 2015, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on February 29, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Airborne Laser (Northrop Grumman) ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ^ Official website of the Directed Energy Directorate ( Memento of April 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ Information on Ausairpower.net ( Memento from January 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ a b AIR International, August 2016, Vol. 91, No. 2, "Laser-Armed AC-130W"
  24. ↑ George Schöfbänker: computer network attacks and microwave cannon. (No longer available online.) In: heise.de . August 24, 2001, archived from the original on November 17, 2016 ; Retrieved February 26, 2015 .
  25. ↑ Larry Altgilbers: Flux Compressor Contribution. (No longer available online.) In: pulsed-power.de. Archived from the original on January 5, 2004 ; Retrieved February 26, 2015 .