From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Sun Jun 22 2003 - 01:25:44 MDT
Naval warfare at the speed of light
Scott C Truver
Death rays, phasers, photon torpedoes and weapons that
can instantaneously vaporise adversaries, without leaving
a trace, are typically the subject of science fiction films.
But what seemed far-fetched not too long ago is now on
the cusp of reality, as the US Navy (USN) forges ahead
with programmes aimed at introducing a range of electric
weapons - electromagnetic (EM) rail guns, high-energy
lasers (HELs) and high-power microwaves - into the
not-too-distant future fleet. If successful, these look to
generate what some have called a "revolution at sea" akin
to the change from sail to steam.
"These 'speed of light' weapons and 'electric-enabled'
weapons offer the promise to fundamentally change the
nature of war at and from the sea," Rear Adm Jay Cohen,
Chief of Naval Research, said in an interview in mid-June
2003.
With the USN's commitment to installing integrated power
systems (IPS) and integrated electric drive in the next
class of warships, beginning with DD(X), and the happy
confluence of several disparate streams of research,
development and engineering, the stage has been set for
the transformation in warfighting that the George W Bush
administration seeks: to "leap a generation" of weapons.
Indeed, the establishment in early 2002 of the Naval
Directed Energy Weapons Program Office (PMS-405) in
the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to oversee
the development of electric weapons, and the expansion
of the programme office's portfolio in late 2002 to include
EM rail guns, mark a turning point in the service's
commitment to achieving a unified vision.
As Chief of Naval Operations, Adm Vern Clark outlined
to the Commander, NAVSEA, Vice Adm Phillip Balisle,
in November 2002: "I am directing NAVSEA to
redesignate PMS-405 [as] the Navy Electric Weapons
Office [since then renamed as the Naval Directed Energy
and Electric Weapons Program Office], and incorporate
within it an electromagnetic weapons division responsible
for managing the full-scale proof-of-concept rail gun...
PMS-405 will also be responsible for co-ordinating with
other programme offices (especially Program Executive
Office [PEO] Ships and PEO Integrated Warfare Systems)
to ensure that DD(X) and follow-on IPS ships are
designed to the maximum extent feasible, to accommodate
forward [fit] and backfit of high-power electric
weapons."
"The advent of directed-energy weapons [DEW] and
electromagnetic rail guns has the potential for
revolutionising warship design and operations,"
underscored Rear Adm Mike Mathis, a former
commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, now
Director, Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense
Organization. "There will be no need for explosives on
board, and the concept of a magazine will have to be
rethought... the impact will ripple throughout the ship and
the navy."
DEWs include lasers, microwave radiation emitters and
particle beam accelerators. Unlike conventional weapons
that rely on kinetic or chemical energy (or both) to
destroy a target, DEWs damage or destroy targets by
depositing energy - photons or particles travelling at or
near the speed of light, about 300,000km/s - on them.
Because a DEW beam can travel great distances almost
instantaneously, the challenge of tracking and intercepting
targets is greatly reduced, while the ability of a target to
evade the weapon's effect is likewise significantly
diminished.
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