Subscribe
If you would like to receive email updates on the addition of new items to Wave Front, click
here.
Submit
If you would like to submit potential items for Wave Front or suggest
online sources of DE news, click
here
See also DEPS Press Releases.
|
|
The Army is gearing up for a laser Stryker shoot-off
(posted: 27 December 2020)
The Army is working overtime to slap two different 50-kilowatt laser weapons onto a pair of Stryker infantry fighting vehicles ahead of a shoot-off this coming spring, a major step forward for the service’s directed-energy ambitions.
More information.
|
THOR: Air Force Tests Counter-Drone Microwave In Africa
(posted: 17 December 2020)
The Air Force is testing its prototype drone-killing microwave, the Tactical High Power Microwave Operational Responder (THOR), “in a real-world setting” in Africa, says Richard Joseph, the Air Force’s chief scientist. Given how Iran and its proxies have used drone swarms, this would seem to be a good place to test without risking escalation, or Iran developing countermeasures.
More information.
|
General Atomics' New Compact, High-Powered Lasers
(posted: 9 December 2020)
General Atomics is so confident in a unique technology they say solves the heat and weight problems found in rival laser designs that they're making it the core of two distinctly different projects.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense is funding General Atomics and two competitors to build experimental lasers able to blast out some 300 kilowatts of power - enough to burn cruise missiles out of the sky. This project is about scaling up laser power output and testing alternative technologies for the services to pick up for separate follow-on programs.
More information.
|
AFRL researchers recognized as early career leaders
(posted: 27 October 2020)
Air Force Research Laboratory commander, Brig. Gen. Heather L. Pringle, recently announced the 2020 AFRL Fellows and the newest class of AFRL Science and Engineering Early Career Award (S&E ECA) recipients. She welcomed 11 researchers as AFRL Fellows and nine scientists and engineers for Early Career Awards. Two of the S&E ECA honorees work in AFRL units located on Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
More information.
|
Air Force Research Laboratory interns win prestigious awards
(posted: 1 December 2020)
Two Air Force Research Laboratory summer scholars were named the recipients of the Directed Energy Professional Society's prestigious graduate scholarships. The AFRL Scholars Program is a summer internship available to students nationwide who are interested in STEM fields.
More information.
|
Laser Weapons On The Battlefield Of Tomorrow: Separating Fact From Fiction
(posted: 3 December 2020)
In the first part of our interview, Dr. Rob Afzal-Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow, Laser and Sensor Systems-gave us a fascinating and highly detailed account of how laser and other directed energy weapons suddenly went from an elusive dream to reality. Now, our focus shifts from the recent past to the near future and beyond. What is on the horizon for laser weaponry and what hurdles remain that are keeping us from realizing the full potential of these revolutionary weapons concepts that were up until just recently relegated to the realm of science fiction?
More information.
|
How The Once Elusive Dream Of Laser Weapons Suddenly Became A Reality
(posted: 25 November 2020)
After decades of toiling and dead-ends, the dream of operational laser weaponry is about to become a reality. So, what changed that made what had been bulky systems go from clumsy pipe dreams to hardened, miniaturized, and reliable weapons that will be able to be deployed even in the harshest of conditions?
More information.
|
New Army research breakthrough could lead to more powerful lasers
(posted: 20 November 2020)
A new way to create diamond-structured crystals, discovered by Army researchers, creates a method for scientists to build more powerful lasers, which are found in key targeting and missile defense systems.
More information.
|
MEL and Remotely Operated Platforms
(posted: 16 November 2020)
Since the first demonstration of the laser (an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) in 1960, its applications have become numerous and commonplace. Naturally, military organizations immediately began envisioning future applications of novel laser systems in combat.
More information.
|
Air Force Wants Lasers on Fighter Jets by 2025
(posted: 9 November 2020)
Lockheed Martin is working toward outfitting a directed energy system on fighter jets by the middle of the decade, according to a company official.
"We're committing to putting a laser pod equipped with a high-energy laser in the air within five years," said Mark Stephen, business development lead for strategic technology development at Lockheed Martin's missiles and fire control division.
More information.
|
Applied Technology Associates to Join the Formation of BlueHalo in Combination with AEgis Technologies and Brilligent Solutions
(posted: 29 October 2020)
Applied Technology Associates ("ATA") today announced it's joining the formation of BlueHalo (the "Company"), a leading provider of advanced engineering solutions and technology to the national security community. BlueHalo was formed through the combination of AEgis Technologies, including its previously integrated acquisitions Excivity and EMRC Heli ("AEgis"), an Arlington Capital Partners portfolio company, and its recently announced acquisition of Brilligent Solutions ("Brilligent").
More information.
|
AFRL researchers recognized as early career leaders
(posted: 27 October 2020)
Air Force Research Laboratory commander, Brig. Gen. Heather L. Pringle, recently announced the 2020 AFRL Fellows and the newest class of AFRL Science and Engineering Early Career Award (S&E ECA) recipients. She welcomed 11 researchers as AFRL Fellows and nine scientists and engineers for Early Career Awards. Two of the S&E ECA honorees work in AFRL units located on Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
More information.
|
Technology success stories, both large and small
(posted: 26 October 2020)
Albuquerque-based Verus Research hit the fast track almost as soon as it launched in 2014.
The company - which works on lasers, high-power microwaves and nuclear engineering - has now won the No. 1 spot for Flying 40 firms with above $10 million in revenue for two years in a row.
More information.
|
2020 Directed Energy Summit Virtual Event Series Now Available On Demand
(posted: 23 October 2020)
Booz Allen Hamilton invited defense and industry experts to speak in a three-part virtual event series earlier this year covering three critical directed energy topics, including the lessons of directed energy deployment, how to apply modular open systems architecture standards to directed energy weapons, and directed energy's place in the gray zone.
More information.
|
Liquid Lasers Challenge Fiber Lasers as the Basis of Future High-Energy Weapons
(posted: 21 October 2020)
Despite a lot of progress in recent years, practical laser weapons that can shoot down planes or missiles are still a ways off. But a new liquid laser may be bringing that day closer.
More information.
|
USAF Scoping Out Upgrades to Counter-UAS Weapons
(posted: 19 October 2020)
The Air Force is in the market for upgrades to its counter-drone technologies, according to an Oct. 16 request for information posted on a federal contracting website.
The service is in the early stages of deploying lasers, microwaves, and other weapons more advanced than a shotgun to deal with potentially threatening drones loitering around bases. In particular, the RFI is looking for ideas to fend off the smallest unmanned aerial systems like quadcopters.
More information.
|
New Counter Drone Strategy Hits Esper's Desk
(posted: 15 October 2020)
DoD’s first joint strategy to counter small drones is about to hit Defense Secretary Mark Esper's desk, says Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, head of the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aerial Systems Office (JCO).
More information.
|
Uptick in Spending Seen for Directed Energy Weapons
(posted: 13 October 2020)
Armed forces around the world are expected to boost investment in directed energy weapons such as lasers and high-powered microwaves over the next decade as the technology matures, a new study forecasts.
More information.
|
Boeing and General Atomics join forces on new laser weapon
(posted: 13 October 2020)
General Atomics and Boeing are teaming up to build a new high-energy laser for air and missile defense, the companies announced Oct. 13.
Under the agreement, the companies will create a 100 kilowatt laser that will be scalable to 250 kilowatts, the companies stated in a news release. The weapon will be able to be employed as a standalone system or integrated onboard ground vehicles, ships and aircraft.
More information.
|
Israel hopes to collaborate with US on anti-missile lasers
(posted: 12 October 2020)
Israel's Missile Defense Organization is looking to develop directed-energy capabilities, and is in early talks with the Pentagon about collaborating on those efforts, according to agency director Moshe Patel.
More information.
|
US Army solidifies requirements to counter small drones
(posted: 12 October 2020)
Pentagon leaders approved in late September a set of requirements to help counter small drones, laying a path for how industry can develop technology to plug into a single command-and-control system, according to the general in charge of the effort.
More information.
|
Firing Lasers from Fighter Jets? That's the U.S. Military's Goal.
(posted: 6 October 2020)
Lasers and many laser technologies such as rangefinders and spotters are already used in many applications, including deployed Navy ships. At the same time, the Pentagon and military services are moving quickly to develop newer, stronger, more-mobile laser weapons.
More information.
|
Applied Technology Associates (ATA) Awarded Contract for Counter-UAS Directed Energy Weapon
(posted: 8 October 2020)
A-Tech Corporation, doing business as Applied Technology Associates (ATA), has been awarded a $17,663,490 other transaction prototype project agreement. The purpose of the agreement is to obtain a ground-based Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) prototype for the purpose of fixed-site Air Force Air Base Air Defense against Group 1 and Group 2 unmanned aerospace system (UAS) threats.
More information.
|
Air Force awards laser-armed RADBO Contract to Parsons
(posted: 26 September 2020)
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a nearly $40 million contract to Parsons to produce ground vehicles that can clear mines or unexploded ordnance from airfields - using a laser.
More information.
|
Blasting The Air In Front Of Hypersonic Vehicles With Lasers Could Unlock Unprecedented Speeds
(posted: 24 September 2020)
Over the last decade, two of the most significant topics in defense research and development have been directed ebergy systems and hypersonic weapons. The Department of Defense and its major contractors have been pushing the boundaries of what is possible with these technologies and those efforts could someday soon literally change the face of warfare forever.
More information.
|
Lockheed Aims For Laser On Fighter By 2025
(posted: 17 September 2020)
"Lockheed Martin is working to fly a laser on tactical fighters within the next five years," Lockheed laser expert Mark Stephen told reporters yesterday afternoon. "We're spending a lot of time to get the beam director right."
More information.
|
Air Force Receives Raytheon Technologies-Built Laser Weapon System
(posted: 15 September 2020)
Raytheon Technologies has built and delivered another high-energy laser weapon system to the U.S. Air Force for use in the branch's upcoming experiments and training activities overseas.
More information.
|
The Air Force successfully tested a mobile laser weapon to protect convoys from enemy drones
(posted: 14 September 2020)
The U.S. military's hypersonic bullets and robot dogs aren't the only innovative technologies to get a workout during a recent Air Force exercise.
Boeing's Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS) system successfully defended a force protection convoy against unmanned aerial systems while mounted on a ground vehicle, the company announced on Thursday.
More information.
|
DoD Drafts Guidelines For Laser Design
(posted: 11 August 2020)
As the military rushes to deploy new laser and microwave weapons, it doesn't want to end up buying a welter of incompatible systems that don't work well together, as happened so often in Afghanistan and Iraq. So the Pentagon's directed energy office has tapped a veteran of Navy laser programs, Christopher Behre, to draft technical guidelines for all the programs to follow.
More information.
|
Army Starts Construction On Prototype Lasers
(posted: 4 August 2020)
After years of lower-power field tests and more than one thousand hours of soldier feedback, the Army is on track to field-test two different types of high-energy lasers in 2022: a 50-kilowatt weapon to destroy enemy drones and incoming artillery rockets, and a 300-kW weapon that could potentially shoot down cruise missiles.
More information.
|
US Missile Defenses Are About to Level Up
(posted: 4 August 2020)
Over the next two years, the U.S. military expects to stand up its first "laser battalion," demonstrate that sailors can knock down ICBMs with missiles fired from surface ships, and establish two counter-Russian missile defense sites in Eastern Europe.
More information.
|
Troops To Test AFRL's THOR Drone Killer This Fall
(posted: 4 August 2020)
The Air Force will send its Tactical High Power Microwave Operational Responder (THOR) overseas this fall for operational field experiments, with Army warfighters in particular keen to get their hands on drone-killing systems.
More information.
|
Northrop Grumman to offer electromagnetic pulse counter-UAV weapon
(posted: 22 July 2020)
Northrop Grumman has signed a distribution agreement with Epirus to sell the start-up's electromagnetic pulse weapon to counter hostile or intruding unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).
More information.
|
Navy To Add Laser Weapons To At Least Seven More Ships In The Next Three Years
(posted: 8 July 2020)
The U.S. Navy expects to have eight warships, in total, equipped with the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy, or ODIN, a laser directed energy weapon system, within the next three years.
More information.
|
'A Golden Age For Collaboration' On Lasers & Microwaves: But Watch The Cheetos!
(posted: 7 July 2020)
As the military field-tests multiple types of directed energy weapons, it's running into some surprising real-world problems - like the dust from Cheetos.
More information.
|
Some Directed-Energy Weapons Show Promise While Others Slow
(posted: 7 July 2020)
Air Force officials are still looking to perfect directed-energy weapons to use against the low-tech threat of small drones before scaling up lasers and microwaves to take out cruise missiles.
More information.
|
Directed Energy Virtual Event Series: The Lessons of Directed Energy Deployment (Webinar)
Hosted by Booz Allen Hamilton (posted: 17 June 2020)
Directed energy holds tremendous promise to safeguard the nation against present and future threats. As near-peer enemies accelerate their technological capabilities, the United States remains focused on its commitment to directed energy advancements.
More information.
|
VIDEO: Laser Weapons
by New Mind (posted: 11 June 2020)
For those of you new to directed energy technologies, this is a good introductory video on laser weapons.
The concept of using light as a weapon has intrigued weapon designers, for centuries. The first such system hypothesized was the Archimedes heat ray. Maiman operated the first functioning laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
View video.
|
ATA selected for US Army ITATS system
(posted: 10 June 2020)
Applied Technology Associates (ATA) has been contracted by Radiance Technologies for the Independent Target Acquisition and Tracking System (ITATS).
The contract is part of the US Army Directed Energy-Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (DE-MSHORAD) prototyping initiative.
More information.
|
VIDEO: USS Portland Fires Laser Weapon, Downs Drone in First At-Sea Test
(updated: 12 June 2020)
Amphibious ship USS Portland (LPD-27) shot down a drone with a laser weapon during a first-of-its-kind at-sea test of the Navy's high-energy laser weapon system.
The Navy is currently developing and testing a portfolio of laser weapons, some of which are more powerful but only suited for ships with greater power-generation capabilities, like the San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks (LPD-17), while others are less powerful but could be fielded on a greater variety of ships, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
More information.
|
Airborne laser weapon on track for 2022 demonstration
(posted: 9 June 2020)
Leaders from Air Force Special Operations Command wanted an airborne-mounted laser weapon by the end of 2019.
Now, they expect a demonstration in fiscal year 2022.
The 60-kilowatt high energy laser will be mounted on an AC-130J Ghostrider, a massively armed workhorse for the Air Force. The laser weapon will be a cherry on top to the gunship, which already boasts a 30mm side-firing chain gun, a 105mm cannon, AGM-176A Griffin laser guided missiles, wing-mounted GBU-39/B GPS-guided and GBU-39B/B laser-guided Small Diameter Bombs.
More information.
|
Directed Energy and Unmanned Systems
by Michael Jirjis, Chief, Directed Energy Experimentation, USAF (posted: 4 June 2020)
The accelerated pace of technology evolution continues to change the ever-expanding landscape for unmanned systems.
More information.
|
Navy to Field High-Energy Laser Weapon, Laser Dazzler on Ships This Year as Development Continues
(posted: 30 May 2020)
The Navy will field versions of both its highest-power laser weapon and its low-end non-lethal laser dazzler later this year, gaining operational experience with directed energy weapons that will continue to focus engineers' efforts building out the Navy Laser Family of Systems (NLFoS).
More information.
|
The ODIN Shipboard Laser: Science Fiction No More
(posted: 26 May 2020)
The engineers behind the development of so many cutting-edge U.S. Navy systems have long dreamed of creating a laser weapon that could defeat the fleet's enemies. Now, they may be closer than ever to making that dream a reality.
Earlier this year, the Navy installed the first Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) on the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey.
More information.
|
Griffin 'extremely skeptical' of airborne lasers for missile defense
(posted: 20 May 2020)
The Defense Department's top technology expert now believes using airborne, directed-energy weapons for missile defense is unlikely to work, and that it's not worth spending research and development funds on the effort.
More information.
|
Navy's Only Directed Energy Lab on a Sea Test Range Breaks Ground at NBVC Point Mugu
(posted: 6 May 2020)
Demonstrating that Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) remains open for business despite the global pandemic, Navy leaders and private contractors broke ground Tuesday, May 5 at Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC)'s Point Mugu for what will become the fleet's only dedicated facility to test, fire and evaluate complete laser weapon systems in a maritime environment.
More information.
|
AFRL researchers win STAR recognition
(posted: 15 April 2020)
The Air Force Research Laboratory recently announced eight Air Force Office of Scientific Research STAR Team Award winners. The award recognizes excellence in basic research across AFRL's technology directorates, and identifies those researchers who have demonstrated world class scientific or engineering achievement.
Two of the STAR Team winners, Dr. Brad Hoff and Dr. Angel Flores, are from AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate located at Kirtland AFB.
More information.
|
Pentagon Wants Wearable, Lightweight Laser Detectors For the Troops
(posted: 14 April 2020)
Lightweight, high-powered lasers have become a problem on the battlefield, and the Defense Department's future-forward research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is looking for a lightweight, wearable sensor that can detect when those lasers are targeting U.S. servicemembers.
More information.
|
AFRL gives warfighters new weapon system
(posted: 8 April 2020)
The Air Force Research Laboratory has set up the Air Force's first high-energy laser weapon system overseas for a 12-month field assessment. The Air Force Strategic Development Planning & Experimentation (SDPE) Office located here is leading the project.
"The receiving combatant command will utilize this system as an operational asset against small unmanned aircraft systems for the duration of the field assessment," said Dr. Michael Jirjis, the SDPE Base Defense Experimentation director.
More information.
|
Overseas Directed-Energy Demonstration Underway
(posted: 8 April 2020)
The Air Force Research Laboratory announced April 6 it has kicked off its overseas demonstration of directed-energy weapons dispatched to take down threatening unmanned aircraft.
While the demo has long been in the works, AFRL revealed that its Tactical High-Power Operational Responder (THOR) system will join four Raytheon-built laser and microwave weapons in the assessment. Microwaves interfere with a small drone's electronics to stop or redirect them, while lasers burn a hole in the fuselage.
More information.
|
US Navy warns China 'you don't want to play laser tag with us' after a Chinese destroyer fired a military-grade laser at a US aircraft
(posted: 3 March 2020)
The US Navy warned China on social media after one of the Asian nation's warships fired a military-grade laser at a US aircraft, telling them: "You don't want to play laser tag with us."
US Pacific Fleet said in a statement on Thursday that the Chinese Type 052D Luyang III-class destroyer Hohhot (hull number 161) fired a weapons-grade laser, apparently part of the ship's close-in weapon system, at a US Navy P-8A reconnaissance aircraft.
More information.
|
Army Ramps Up Funding For Laser Shield, Hypersonic Sword
(posted: 28 February 2020)
With adversaries amassing long-range precision weapons, the Army is asking Congress for more than $1 billion in 2021 to develop hypersonic missiles for offense and missile-killing lasers for defense. Hypersonics funding is up 86 percent from last year and high energy lasers soared a stunning 209 percent.
More information.
|
The Navy Has Installed the First Drone-Stopping Laser on a Destroyer
(posted: 21 February 2020)
The newest weapon in the Navy's arsenal is a laser dazzler that can stymie enemy drones threatening surface ships. And now it's installed aboard an active destroyer.
The system was installed aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Dewey in November, but not announced until this week, officials with Naval Sea Systems Command told Military.com.
More information.
|
With laser weapons coming, the US Navy's newest super carrier has space and power to spare
(posted: 31 January 2020)
The U.S. Navy is trying to find an alternative to shooting down anti-ship missiles with other missiles, and the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford could prove useful in this pursuit.
A major difference with Ford over its Nimitz-class predecessors is its twin A1B nuclear reactors that produce more than three times the electrical power of the reactors on Nimitz - more than 100 megawatts.
More information.
|
Raytheon: DOD Needs More Research on Stopping Medium-Size Drones
(posted: 23 January 2020)
Military research on how to protect against threatening unmanned aircraft has so far focused on two ends of the drone spectrum-store-bought products like small quadcopters and large, advanced aircraft akin to the MQ-9 Reaper. But Evan Hunt, high-energy laser business development lead at Raytheon, argues there's more to know about those that fall in the middle.
More information.
|
Assessing Israel's Tactical Laser Breakthrough
(posted: 17 January 2020)
Until recently, the military application of relatively high-energy lasers has been more science fiction than reality. That is starting to change.
Israel's Ministry of Defense announced Jan. 8 a "breakthrough" in its development of laser technology to intercept aerial threats. This technological milestone promises to strengthen Israel's lower-tier missile defense and provides another opportunity for U.S.-Israel research and development cooperation.
More information.
|
Army General to Lead New Pentagon Unit to Counter Drone Strikes on the Battlefield
(posted: 17 January 2020)
Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey will lead a new 60-person team for the Defense Department to develop new methods to counter drone strikes, which are increasing on the battlefields of the Middle East and Afghanistan, Pentagon officials announced earlier this week.
"The idea is to take all of the effort in terms of development and fielding and come up with three to five systems which are the best for counter-[unmanned aerial systems]," Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said Tuesday to reporters at a Defense Writers Group meeting.
More information.
|
How Laser Weapons are Changing the Defense Equation
(posted: 15 January 2020)
In 2017, a U.S. military ally detected an unusual threat: a small quadcopter drone-the kind anyone can buy online for $200-was approaching. A $3 million Patriot missile was fired to take it down, eliminating the threat, but at a disproportionate cost. The incident highlights an issue armed forces worldwide face today: What is the best defense against a new generation of weapons?
More information.
|
Littoral Combat Ship Will Field Laser Weapon as Part of Lockheed Martin, Navy Test
(posted: 14 January 2020)
The Navy will put a laser weapon on a Littoral Combat Ship for the first time this year, amid efforts to boost the LCS's lethality and to develop and field a family of laser systems.
USS Little Rock (LCS-9) will receive a laser weapon during its upcoming deployment, Commander of Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Richard Brown told reporters. The ship will likely deploy to U.S. 4th Fleet, where sister ship USS Detroit is currently operating.
More information.
|
Killing Cruise Missiles: Pentagon To Test Rival Lasers
(posted: 2 December 2019)
The Army, Air Force, and Navy may be only three years away from a 300-kilowatt laser weapon, one powerful enough to shoot down cruise missiles - using the same basic technology as the checkout counter at your local supermarket.
"We are in the process of negotiating contracts with three different performers for three different electrically powered laser concepts," Thomas Karr, who works for Pentagon R&D chief Mike Griffin as assistant director for directed energy, said.
More information.
|
Previous Wave Front
|
