Directed Energy Warfare

I just read an interesting -- and sobering -- article at Space.com:

There is a new breed of weaponry fast approaching—and at the speed of light no less. They are labeled "directed-energy weapons" and may well signal a revolution in military hardware—perhaps more so than the atomic bomb.

Directed-energy weapons take the form of lasers, high-powered microwaves, and particle beams. Their adoption for ground, air, sea, and space warfare depends not only on using the electromagnetic spectrum, but also upon favorable political and budgetary wavelengths too...

After more than two decades of research, the United States is on the verge of deploying a new generation of weapons that discharge beams of energy, such as the Airborne Laser, the Active Denial System, as well as the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL).

Science fiction, or science future?

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Comments

[Tom Craver]

Active Denial might be of some use in our wars of hegemony enforcement - all those bases in semi-hostile nations to defend.

Most of the laser weapon uses aren't terribly useful in the sorts of wars we have these days - only Russia and China have weapon systems worth shooting down with them, and I really hope we don't go to war with either.

Maybe lasers could be used to destabilize electric grids without the massive damage done in Iraq, by knocking out just a few key elements, forcing the rest to be shut down. An empire needs to keep its wars cost effective after all, and Iraq has been way too expensive.

Unfortunately none of these appear to have bunker-buster potential. They really ought to work on a sonic weapon to cause cave-ins or drive out the cave dwellers. I'm surprised no one has worked out phased array explosions for this purpose yet. A one-shot phased array bomb could create a pulse of sonic energy focused to a precise depth - probably pretty effective for use in air against the occupants of tanks or in water against submarines, as well.

Or if you know there's a cave full of insurgents below you, you could take the time to set up an array of repeat-exploders (inject hydrogen/air mix into an array of canisters - open on the bottom - and ignite them in the proper timed sequence to create a focused sonic pulse every couple of seconds - you could scan the focal point to create a precisely fractured region in the cave roof. (Hmm - I wonder if this might have applications for mining - keeping explosives out of underground mines...)