Jane's on Naval `electric weapons'

From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Sun Jun 22 2003 - 01:25:44 MDT

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    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.

             517 of 3,357 words

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